


The Search

by Solcane



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Bad Puns, But this is NOT a smut fic, Cat Puns, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Comedy, Coming of Age, Dork Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Dragon Miraculous, Dragon Noir, Drama & Romance, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Mystery, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plot, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Teenage Rebellion, adrienette - Freeform, eventually, ladrien, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 09:10:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20927729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solcane/pseuds/Solcane
Summary: Adrien decides to investigate the disappearance of his mother with the help of his friends.





	1. An Impromptu Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Adrien suddenly invites his four closest friends, Nino, Chloe, Alya and Marinette out to karaoke a Saturday afternoon, the teens are left puzzled at the impromptu meetup. Little do they all know, this simple conversation between friends is a decisive moment that will change their lives forever.

  
  


The day had started in a weird way, to say the least. It was a Saturday morning when Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Chloe had all received a group text from Adrien. Their mutual friend had sent them all a message asking to meet him Bam Karaoke Box at 2:00pm. The text emphasized to plan to stay out late. Despite their replies, Adrien did not provide any additional details. 

Marinette immediately texted Alya and Nino in a separate group text, and all three of them were equally confused. Adrien never lead group hangouts because it was always a stretch for him to even be able to go. The morning got even stranger when Chloe offered to have her chauffeur come to each of their houses to pick them up. They all agree to the pickup, while simultaneously messaging their own group about how doppelgängers must have taken over Adrien and Chloe last night. 

  
  


Marinette rummages through her closet, looking for the perfect outfit for this crisp October day. She stands in front of her clothes rack, hand on her chin, deep in thought. 

“Marinette you will look wonderful in whatever you choose to wear!” Tikki says flying over and around her chosen. 

“Yeah, but what would be good for karaoke?" Marinette says, pushing the clothes on the rack back and forth. "Adrien invited us to karaoke? Is he into karaoke? What do you even wear to karaoke?” Marinette rapidly asks her Kwami while pulling clothes out from the closet and dropping them on the floor.

Tikki lets out a giggle. “Well, karaoke is fun, right? Why don’t you wear something fun?” the Kwami suggests.

“Something… fun…” Marinette murmurs under her breath. “Ah ha!” she exclaims, one finger pointing in the air at her Kwami. Then she turns to her closet, quickly pulling out the pieces of clothing she is looking for. 

Tikki watches the bluenette as she pulls on a pair of dark jeans and a soft green scoop neck shirt. Then she goes over to her sewing station, pulling a jacket out from one of her many piles of projects, the complete mixed with the incomplete. She shrugs the black jacket onto her shoulders, giving it a tug. Tikki immediately notices the green paw prints of Chat Noir’s ring emblazoned on the back of the jacket.

“Oh, Marinette very nice!” Tikki says, flying over to take a closer look. “What a fun outfit idea!”

“Thanks Tikki!” Marinette says, heading over to her floor-length mirror to admire the outfit. “I made this jacket a few months ago, but I never really had a chance to wear it” she explains turning around to look at the jacket from behind. “It’s a little cheesy, but I kind of like it” she says, smiling at Tikki.

“Well if it was cheesy Plagg would love it… _bleh_” Tikki says, sticking out her tongue and giggling. 

Marinette chuckles adjusting the jacket in the mirror, “Yeah Chat is always talking about the suspicious amount of cheese he needs to keep around. Poor guy.” Tikki laughs in agreement.

“Jokes aside Marinette, I think it looks cool! Everyone is sure to be impressed with it” Tikki says assuredly. 

“Thanks Tikki” Marinette answers sincerely. Happy with her outfit, she heads into her bathroom where she puts on a touch of makeup. Marinette reaches up and unfastens the messy bun she put in after her shower this morning. She reaches into a basket on the counter to grab a brush to tame her dark locks. “_My hair down looks great with this jacket, I think I’ll keep it down today,_” Marinette thinks as she brushes stray hairs into place. She slips her signature red hairbands onto her wrists just in case she wants to put her hair up later.

“_You look great!_” She internally praises herself punching towards the mirror. “_You will be cool around Adrien!_” She continues to cheer, sending an alternating punch toward the mirror. “_Maybe you will even flirt with him!_” She encourages herself, sending a high kick towards the mirror.

“Ahhh!” She exclaims as she loses her balance, toppling into a heap onto the floor.

“Oh Marinette” Tikki giggles as Marinette laughs along, slowly pulling herself off the floor.

  
  


A few minutes later Marinette hears her father calling her to come downstairs. “Sweetie, there is a limo waiting for you?” He says with a puzzled voice.

Marinette slings her purse over her shoulder, slips on some boots, and paces down the stairs. She bounds up to her dad to give him a kiss on the cheek and says, “Yes papa, the limo is for me. Chloe Bourgeois’s chauffeur is taking me to karaoke.”

“Chloe...Bourgeois...chauffeur...karaoke?” Her father responds growing more deeply confused. “Wait, this isn’t the same Chloe Bourgeois who has been torturing you in school for years is it?” He exclaims.

Dusting flour onto her apron Sabine joins her husband, wrapping her hands in the crook of his elbow. “People change honey,” Marinette’s mother says softly, “Our daughter is amazing giving Chloe another chance” she finishes with a smile at her daughter. 

“Alright,” Tom says hesitantly, “but know you can always text or call us if you need anything.”

“Of course,” Marinette says, grinning and walking to the door. “Love you both!”

“We love you too honey,” they both reply.

  
  


Marinette is ushered into the back of the limo by the chauffeur, sliding into the comfortable and elegant seats. She notices Nino, Alya and Chloe are all already seated in the limousine. 

“Hey girl!” Alya greets her, “What an impromptu hangout, right?” 

Before Marinette can answer her friend, Nino cuts in, “yeah with a weird crew too” shooting a glance at the blonde girl filing her nails. 

“Nino!” Alya quietly scolds him. The boy responds with a shrug, lifting his headphones from around his neck and placing them over his ears.

“I can hear you, you know,” Chloe says, not bothering to look up from her nails. The four teens sit through some awkward silence as the limo takes off to the karaoke bar. Marinette and Alya share some concerned glances before they both retreat into their phones.

After a short time, Chloe speaks up again. “You know,” she says, tucking her nail file into her Chanel clutch. “You guys can say what you want about me, it doesn’t bother me,” she says matter-of-factly. “I’m just going today because Adrien needs us all to be there.”

“What do you know about this karaoke meetup?” Alya asks Chloe, lifting her eyebrow inquisitively. Nino moves his headphone to the side, allowing one ear to listen to the conversation. Marinette tucks her phone away and looks at the blonde. 

“Oh nothing more than you guys do,” Chloe says, looking over the three of them, a bored expression on her face. “But Adrien would never organize something like this unless it was important. Do you _really_ think his father would let him go out and stay out late?” The blonde says, turning her phone around to point at Adrien’s text that started the chain this morning. "**That** would be ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!" Chloe finishes with a nod.

“Maybe his old man is just starting to give him some slack?” Nino suggests.

“Ha!” Chloe barks with an eye roll. “Good one Nino. If there is one thing I’ve learned about Uncle Gabriel over the years is that man has no idea how to loosen anything, only pull it in tighter.” Marinette looks up at Chloe and sees her brow furrowed in contemplation. 

“_I wonder if this **is** important_” Marinette ponders to herself, “_I hope everything is okay_” Marinette unconsciously grips her knees. With a deep breath she adds, “well if Adrien needs us, all the people he wanted are going to be there. Thank you for the ride Chloe.”

“Pfft” Chloe blows between her lips. Snapping a pocket mirror out from her purse, the blonde ensures her hair is perfect. Chloe tries to hide a small smile from Marinette’s sincere comment but the bluenette takes note of it. _"Chloe has really grown as a person since becoming Queen Bee,"_ she thinks. _"Keep up the good work Chloe"_ Marinette tells herself, feeling proud of her good influence on the mean girl. The four of them make small talk until the limo pulls up in front of Bam Karaoke Bar. Chloe’s well-dressed attendant opens the door and the four teens exit into the Karaoke Bar.

Marinette immediately notes the Karaoke Bar didn’t seem to be too busy. It was a smaller venue, with fun lighting fixtures and bright posters in Japanese. “_It must be pretty slow in the afternoon_” she ponders. Alya goes up to the counter and gives Adrien’s first name. The woman looking over the system at the desk shakes her head in confusion.

"Are you sure?" Alya asks the attendant, "we're here to meet Adrien Ag-" before she can finish her sentence, Adrien suddenly pops out of the first karaoke room. They watch as their blonde friend gives them a quick wave, and then begins to speak with the woman at the front counter in Japanese. After a quick exchange, the woman waves them to the first room with a smile, and they all pile in as Adrien holds the door open for them.

After they all enter, Adrien says one last thing to the old woman at the counter and then closes the door behind himself with a deep sigh. 

  
  


“Since when do you speak Japanese?” Chloe questions, staring him down with her slender arms crossed in front of her. 

“I’ve been studying it over the last few months” Adrien answers, looking them over as they all stand in the room. “I end up having a lot of free time alone at home, so I thought I might as well do something useful with that time.”

“But aren’t you already learning Chinese dude?” Nino asks, baffled.

“Well - yeah” Adrien answers, “My dad has been doing more dealings with the Tsurugi family and he thought it would be good if Japanese was added to my lessons” he finishes with a shrug.

“But that seems so hard, learning two languages at once!” Alya adds.

“Your dad already puts enough pressure on you man,” Nino says, looking at Adrien concerned. 

“Guys, guys it’s fine” Adrien replies putting his hands up in front of him defensively and then uses them to usher his friends to sit down in the small karaoke room. Alya and Nino sit on one booth together. Marinette sits on the other booth and Chloe sits on one of the single chairs in the room. Adrien is the last to sit, taking the remaining seat next to Marinette.

Marinette immediately feels herself blush when the tall blonde takes a seat next to her, the shared cushion dipping slightly with his weight. "_Be normal_" her mind yells at her. "_Remember he's your friend too!_" she reminds herself.

“So you’re really okay with learning Japanese?” Marinette asks, looking at her crush, praying her blush isn't too obvious. “Is it any fun at all?”

“Well, sure!” Adrien says, grabbing the karaoke remote. He points it to the screen, selecting some songs to play quietly in the background. “I mean I like some Japanese stuff so it’s fun to be able to understand more of it” the blonde explains.

“Gross, this _stuff_ isn't that Kagami girl is it?” Chloe nearly spits out. Alya and Nino look at each other. Marinette jumps at the accusation but then looks at Adrien expectantly.

“N-no!” Adrien stumbles in his speech, starting to blush a bit. “I mean it’s nice to practice Japanese with her but I like Japanese outside of Kagami being Japanese!” The flustered boy explains.

“Oh my god dude…” Nino says, starting to laugh, his gaze dropping from Alya's.

“What?” Alya asks her boyfriend.

“You’re a weeb, aren’t you Adrien?” Nino says with a pointed laugh.

“Nino!” Adrien shouts, maybe a little too loud. “No, I am not a weeb. I mean I watch some anime but everyone does, that doesn’t make me a weeb!” He says, waving his hands frantically. 

Alya and Nino start losing themselves in the laughter, and they even manage to get a toothy grin out of Chloe. “Hey guys leave him alone!” Marinette jokingly scolds the group. Bravely, she places her hand on Adrien’s forearm. “_Oh my god why is it so muscular,_” Marinette thinks, freezing momentarily. “_Focus you trainwreck!_” she internally scolds herself. 

“I also prefer subs to dubs Adrien,” she says with a smile. Adrien turns to look down at her with a slightly surprised expression on his face “and it would be cool to be able to understand even without the subs!” Marinette states. 

“Oh my god you’re both huge dorks!” Alya continues to laugh with Nino, their laughter now directed at both Adrien and Marinette.

Marinette’s cheeks puff out as a tiny bit of anger rises in her chest. She stands up about to defend herself and Adrien when she feels Adrien reach up, placing his hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright Mari,” Adrien says over the laughter in the room, “maybe we are just dorks.”

Marinette turns her head and her eyes meet the beautiful green of Adrien’s eyes. His large hand warmly placed on her shoulder. Her breath catches in her chest, “_He is so beautiful_” she thinks to herself. “_And so kind, and patient…_” she dazes. Blinking she nods her head and says, “you’re right, they’re the ones missing out!”

Adrien chuckles and Marinette swears if she heard an angel laugh that is exactly how it would sound. Marinette sits again next to the blonde and his hand leaves her shoulder. She watches his face fall from the momentary bliss, coming to rest in a serious position. Marinette watches over Adrien as he looks at his laughing friends, quietly cracking his fingers. Even Chloe couldn’t resist the laughter, obviously holding back laughs from behind her phone.

  
  


When they finally calm down, the room is silent except for the bop of music playing quietly in the background. After a few moments in silence Adrien finally speaks, “Well, thank you all for coming on kind of short notice.”

“Of course dude,” Nino says with a smile and a nod. Adrien smiles back but then begins twisting his silver ring back and forth, looking down at it with a nervous expression.

“Okay out with it Adrien,” Chloe says bluntly, leaning forward in her seat.

“Chloe!” Alya hisses, whipping her head around to glare at the blonde girl.

“No, no it’s fine,” Adrien says with a breath, his hands still clasped together in his lap. “This is just kind of awkward for me” the blonde confesses, his golden hair hanging low over his eyes.

“_You’re his friend Marinette! Be there for him!_” Marinette encourages herself. Again she reaches out to hold his arm, this time gently wrapping her fingers around his wrist. “It’s okay Adrien” Marinette warmly remarks. “We’re not going to judge you, we’re here for you.” Marinette looks around the room and sees the other three teens nodding in agreement.

“Thanks guys,” Adrien lifts his head, a soft smile spreading across his face. Marinette watches as that soft smile slowly dissipates, another solemn expression filling its place. 

“I-” Adrien says, taking in a deep breath. “I want to figure out what happened to my mother.” The three other teens look amongst each other and then back to Adrien. His head dips down again to stare at his lap, his fingers still fidgeting with his silver ring. Marinette strokes her thumb back and forth across his wrist, hoping to provide the boy some comfort. He takes another deep breath.

“I want to figure out what happened to my mother” he repeats, squeezing his eyes shut. “And-” he stutters out. Marinette looks at Adrien closely, and she can clearly see water peeking out from behind his now closed eyelids. 

Marinette continues to use her fingers to soothingly rub Adrien’s hand and wrist. The teens sit in the small karaoke room, patiently waiting to see what their friend has to say. Alya reaches over to lace Nino's fingers in her. Chloe watches Adrien, her phone laying screen down on her leg. Marinette is barely able to contain a gasp when Adrien suddenly catches her stroking fingers tight in his palm. She feels her heart flutter as Adrien holds her hand, but her excitement at this prospect quickly fades due to Adrien's somber demeanor.

“Dude I know this is hard,” Nino says, lowering his hat over his eyes. “And you must miss her a ton.”

“I couldn’t imagine not having answers,” Alya nearly whispers.

“A lot of people miss Aunt Emilie…” Chloe almost unintelligibly adds, wiping a stray tear from her face. 

Adrien takes a few more deep breaths, gradually holding Marinette’s hand tighter and tighter. Marinette doesn’t know what to do other than squeeze his hand back. Obviously holding back tears Adrien takes a couple more deep breaths. Finally, he lifts his head up, opening his eyes to look blankly forward. Marinette can tell he won’t be able to hold his resolve much longer. She reaches over and places her other hand on top of their joined hands. 

At this movement, he looks over to her. Marinette watches as tears finally spill down his eyes, a desperate expression plaguing his face. His eyes unwavering from her he begins again, “And-” his voice catches in his throat, “and I think my father had something to do with it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello beautiful person reading this. Thank you for checking out "The Search." I was inspired to write this due to the positive responses I received from my previous writings. People seemed interested in my ability to write characters and plot so I wanted to give writing a more _traditional_ long overarching story a shot. 
> 
> Adrien seems to have very little agency in the show currently, so I wanted to write a plot that would allow him to take action but also be interesting for the reader. As this story grows, it may get more mature (thus the rating), but I will try to note these developments per chapter and in the tags. I have big plans for this story, so I hope you stick around for the ride! 
> 
> Please feel free to leave feedback! Every comment is greatly appreciated.


	2. Cold Case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien restlessly lays in bed, his mind wandering to thoughts of his missing mother. Slowly, pieces in his mind begin to click together.
> 
> _This chapter chronicles what occurred the night before Adrien invited his friends to the karaoke bar._

  
  


Adrien had been following the rules for a long time. He was always praised for being seen, not heard and dutifully doing what he was told without question. Over time, he found himself no longer staying in line as consistently as he had before. Maybe without his mother, he was no longer seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. Maybe some of the chaos and destruction from Plagg had rubbed off on him. Or maybe it was the newfound confidence he found in himself after wielding the Miraculous of the Black Cat and becoming a protector of Paris. 

No matter the cause, something stirs in Adrien this brisk October night. Lying in bed, there is a persistent buzzing in his mind. Thoughts swirling beneath the surface pushed down from years of conditioning from his strict father. He lays in the darkness of his bedroom on top of the sheets, dressed in only a pair of red pajama pants. He looks to the left and sees Plagg curled up on a pillow all his own, apparently fast asleep.

Adrien smiles at the small cat-like Kwami and then slowly gets off the bed to not disturb him. Tiptoeing across the room, he slides into his computer chair and powers on his PC. He squints a bit as the bright light from the monitor assaults his previously dark adjusted eyes. As his eyes adapt to the monitor light, he sees the smiling face of his mother looking back at him. He takes a moment to look over his desktop background of him and his mother.

“_Hard to believe that was nearly 3 years ago now._” Adrien thinks to himself. He leans back in his computer chair and closes his eyes. Adrien tries on his own to remember his mother. Not just her face, but her presence. Her voice. Her laugh. Her hugs. He brings a hand up to his face, pressing his hand over his eyes. He unconsciously grinds his teeth in frustration as he finds it harder and harder to remember the little things. The lunches she made him. The games they played together. Everything she taught him to do. Every day without her, another piece of her seems to slip away from him. He leans forward again, resting his elbow on the desk and holding his head in his hands.

Exasperated, he looks again to his desktop background, the still image of his missing mother smiling back at him. His mother’s kind face unchanging over the years, unlike his. He lowers the hand over his eyes to drag down to his chin, feeling the stubble growing in there. He is no longer the 13-year-old boy he was when she seemed to disappear out of thin air. He is no longer the blissfully ignorant boy currently staring back at him.

“_A lot has changed, except for any progress in my mother’s disappearance_.” Adrien thinks, gently raking his fingernails over the stubble on his chin. He scoots his chair closer to the desk, dropping his fingers from his chin over to the mouse on his desk.

Looking over his shoulder, almost expecting someone to stop him, he opens up Chrome. He moves his fingers over the keys typing out his search. A search he has made many times before, but often lacked the resolve to read too deeply or for too long. 

**Emilie Agreste disappearance updates**, he types in, filtering the results by the last 6 months. He sees an online article from _Le Figaro_ and clicks into it.

  
  


****

**Cold Case Search for Emilie Agreste Stalls**

By: Alexis Bréze

September 17th 2019

Questions still linger in the upper social circles of Paris regarding missing wife and mother Emilie Agreste. The Parisian Police elected not to provide a new formal interview regarding the nearly 3 year old missing person case of Emilie Agreste, wife of the world-famous designer Gabriel Agreste. The case which Parisian detectives have called “baffling” continues to have little to no leads that have been made public. In place of a formal interview, Officer Raincomprix provided the following statement to _Le Figaro_:

****

_“The Parisian Police have not given up on our efforts to find the missing mother, model and actress Emilie Agreste. Sadly, there are no current leads that could lead to her whereabouts. The case is not currently assigned to a detective, but we are hoping to get it reassigned into the Cold Case unit soon. We appreciate the interest in the case, and anyone with any leads should please contact the Parisian Police right away.”_ \- Officer Raincomprix 

****

Despite reassurances from the Paris Police, the lack of leads about Mrs. Agreste's disappearance has made the case extremely difficult from the start. Emilie Agreste was reported missing December 25th, 2016 when she failed to return home from a Christmas party the night before at the Bourgeois hotel. Per released records, she was reported missing by her husband Gabriel Agreste, at about 5:00am Christmas morning. Witnesses at the party reported Emilie Agreste appeared to be in good spirits, talking with fellow guests about her husband Gabriel Agreste, and her son Adrien, the current teen heartthrob of Paris.

Queen of fashion Audrey Bourgeois has previously answered questions regarding the presence of Emilie Agreste at the now infamous party. Back in 2018, she was quoted as saying, “_Emilie was her lovely self at the party. She wouldn’t stop gushing about her family. Of course, Gabriel was nowhere to be found, but that was pretty typical for him._” 

Due to statements like this, the police do not currently believe Emilie Agreste walked away from her life. However, there have been many cases where seemingly happy people decide to leave their lives behind for reasons unknown to their family at the time. Due to this, the police have not ruled out her simply leaving her life behind. The police also note they have no indication of Emilie Agreste having any suicidal tendencies in the past.

However, in the infancy of the investigation police had another reason to be medically concerned for Emilie Agreste. As referenced in a January 2017 Press Conference by the Parisian Police, “_Before her disappearance, there are reports of Emilie Agreste experiencing dizzy spells sometimes resulting in fainting. Due to these medical concerns, Emilie Agreste is considered an endangered missing person and we are dedicating all the resources available to locate her._” Despite these early efforts, no trace was found of the beloved actress. No one has claimed to have seen or heard from Emilie Agreste since that Christmas Eve night. Her phone was never located and none of her credit cards or bank accounts have had any activity since.

Nearly 3 years later, police and the public are left with about the same amount of information they had at the beginning of the case. While foul play has not been ruled out at this time, the police have reiterated they still have no indication of foul play. As noted in a 2018 police statement, “_We have nothing to support foul play. We have nothing to support she left her life behind. We have nothing to support she is alive or has passed. Despite our efforts, we have nothing._”

Little has been heard from the family since Emilie’s disappearance, causing some eyebrows to raise. _Le Figaro_ attempted to reach out to Gabriel Agreste for a statement about his missing wife, but his attorneys declined for their client to comment. 

  
  


Adrien finishes reading the article, tapping his fingers absentmindedly on the keys. Almost all the information in the article is regurgitated information everyone has been repeating to him for the last 3 years. He can feel his heartbeat pick up when one new piece of information lights a spark in his mind.

“_Father retained an attorney?_” Adrien thinks to himself, frowning at the screen. “_I didn’t know he had an attorney representing him about mother’s disappearance._” Over the years his father seldom talked about his mother’s disappearance, providing little details or insights into what could have happened to his mother.

He clicks the back key, navigating back up to the search bar. **Gabriel Agreste attorney wife disappearance**, he types in. He is greeted again by official media outlet reports of his mother’s disappearance. Scanning the articles, they contain a lot of the same information he had just read. Clicking back again, he scrolls further down into the Google results. The results slowly begin to switch from news articles, to references of his father and mother in various discussion boards.

His heart jumps in his chest when he reads the title of the discussion: Gabriel Agreste paying the media to stay hush on his wife’s missing person case? He begins to scan the post and the comments, and they all share a similar sentiment. For such a beautiful actress and wife of a world-famous fashion designer, you hear and see very little in French media regarding her disappearance. The comments continue asking the questions Adrien always had in the back of his mind, but never truly allowed himself to consider.

_Maybe Gabriel Agreste had something to do with her disappearance? Statistically speaking a family member is almost always involved._

_Why are there no missing person posters?_

_Why aren’t there vigils held each year on the anniversary of her disappearance?_

_Why is Gabriel Agreste not offering a reward for information about his missing wife?_

_What was the cause of her dizzy spells? Possible poisoning?_

_Why hasn’t the Agreste family released Emilie’s medical records from before her disappearance? _

_Why does Gabriel Agreste seem publicly disinterested in locating his missing wife?_

_Why did Gabriel Agreste immediately retain a team of attorneys?_

The random internet postings on true crime forums, conspiracy websites and even fashion blogs all lead to a similar train of thought. “_All these people… they think father had something to do with this?_” Adrien thinks, leaning back again in his computer chair. Suddenly he finds himself standing and then walking across the room as his computer chair slides back across the floor at his movement.

“_No there is no way father had something to do with this_” he internally denies, pacing over to the window. “_Sure father is a private person and doesn’t talk about mother much, but he loves her. He misses her_” he tells himself. He looks at the Parisian night outside his window, closing his eyes to remember back 3 years ago.

  
  


In this very room, he was stirred awake on Christmas morning by a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

“Mama,” Adrien says, eyes still closed as he clings to sleep. “Is it time to open presents?” he asks in a groggy voice. Blinking the weariness from his eyes, he cracks his eyes open expecting to see the smiling face of his mother. Instead, he is woken by a stern-faced Nathalie with a police officer standing behind her.

“Adrien,” she says calmly, “you need to get up and get dressed. We need you downstairs for something important.”

Adrien immediately sits up in bed, looking at Nathalie and the officer. Nathalie has large bags under her eyes and a sad expression on her face. The officer simply looks around his room casually, waiting for Adrien to get out of bed.

“I-is everything okay?” Adrien asks nervously. Nathalie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before looking over to the officer. The officer takes attention to this and comes up to his bed.

“Of course buddy, everything is fine. We just need to ask you some questions, can you meet us downstairs in a bit?” He asks Adrien. Adrien looks at the burly man, his eyes tired from years of stress, the wrinkles in his face forming as he gently smiles at Adrien.

“Of course” Adrien answers. Nathalie seems content with his response and nods to the officer. Both of them then walk to his bedroom door to exit.

“Be down in 5 minutes” Nathalie instructs, before closing his bedroom door. Now alone, Adrien hops out of bed. He reaches over to put on the Christmas sweater his mother had bought him the year before. Smiling he looks at the aesthetically offensive garment. A red sweater with a large image of a cat tangled up in Christmas ribbons. In bubbly font across the bottom of the sweater it says, _Meowy Christmas!_ The sweater was definitely an ugly Christmas sweater, covered with clashing colors and textures. The bell hanging from the cat's neck in the image was accented on the sweater with a real bell dangling from the garment. His father nearly passed out last year when Adrien and his mother came down for breakfast in the matching sweaters. 

Adrien slips the sweater on, electing to keep his pajama pants on - it was Christmas morning after all. He leaves his bedroom and walks over to the large center staircase in the mansion. Once he is at the top of the stairs, he realizes everything is not fine. He quickly walks down the stairs, and a chill rushes through his body. He sees the front door is propped open with several police officers coming into and out of his house, the cold winter breeze following them. Out of the open door, there are several police cars parked just on the other side of the metal gates. He sees Nathalie talking with the officer again while he takes notes. Adrien walks up to his father's assistant.

“Where are father and mother? What is going on?” Adrien asks Nathalie, his anxiety increasing. Nathalie again looks to the officer for guidance. The large man places his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. 

“Let’s go talk in the kitchen, okay Adrien?” The older man says. Adrien simply nods and allows himself to be led into the kitchen. He walks through the foyer, looking at the Christmas tree still wearing the decorations he put on with his mother just days ago. Gifts sit under the tree, unopened. Instead of his parents, his home is filled with unfamiliar people in uniform, looking around and taking notes. He turns around and looks at Nathalie who has walked off to a corner, having a hushed conversation into her cellphone. 

Soon, Adrien is standing alone in the kitchen with the officer. “My name is Officer Couture” the man introduces himself, his hand reaching out for a handshake. Adrien hesitantly takes the man's hand. “How old are you Adrien?” the man asks.

“I’m 13” Adrien answers, trying to look over the officer's shoulder to see where Nathalie was. “What’s going on?” He asks, looking back to the officer.

“We’re not sure Adrien, that’s why we wanted to speak with you” the officer responds. “Do you remember when you last saw your mother?”

“My mother?” Adrien responds. “Yes, she came and said goodnight to me before heading to a Christmas party.” Adrien watches as the officer takes diligent notes of his answers.

“Did she say or do anything that was out of the ordinary last night?” The officer asks peeking up from his notes.

Before Adrien has a chance to even consider an answer, his father burst into the kitchen followed by a well-dressed man and woman Adrien had never seen before. “This interview is over,” Gabriel says harshly, walking over to stand defensively next to his son. 

“Father?” Adrien asks, looking up at the serious man who is staring down the officer.

“Mr. Agreste I simply wanted to ask your son a few-” the officer begins.

The well-dressed woman quickly steps between the officer and the Agreste men. “Any questions you have for the Agreste's will need to come through my office,” she says curtly, handing him a small piece of paper. Adrien then feels his father's hand slip around his shoulders, leading him out of the kitchen. Adrien sees the officer sigh deeply as he listens to the well-dressed woman begin to speak.

Silently his father leads him into his office. Once he arrives, he sees Nathalie and Gorilla are already waiting in the room. He immediately notes his mother is absent. Gabriel pulls a second chair up to his desk and then sits in his chair. Looking over to his son, he motions for Adrien to sit next to him. 

Once they are both seated Adrien says, “Father, what is going on? Why was that officer asking me about mother?”

Adrien watches his father's usually emotionless face fill with grief.

Gabriel takes his glasses off and places them on the desk in front of him. He brings his fingers to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. With a breath, he replies, “your mother is missing, Adrien.” 

  
  


Adrien opens his eyes, looking again into the Parisian night. He reaches up and feels wetness on his cheeks brought on by the memory of that Christmas morning. “_How did I not realize it then,_” Adrien thinks, blinking out at the night. “_Those were father's attorneys. Why wouldn’t they let the officer talk to me?_” Adrien paces back across his large room as his mind races with possibilities. “_What if mother said something to me that **was** important?_” He questions, desperately trying to recall her words from that Christmas Eve night.

He remembers her fingers running through the front of his hair. Her soft lips kissing him on the forehead. The beautiful silver dress she wore for the party. Slowly, the words start to trickle back into his memory. 

  
  


__

_Goodnight Adrien. I’ll see you in the morning in our kitty sweaters._

  
  


“_Yes, those were the words_” Adrien internally notes, walking over to his desk to write down the sentence word for word. “_I’ll see you in the morning…_” Adrien reviews over and over. “_She thought she was coming home_” Adrien concludes. “_She would never lie to me. She would never lie to me saying she would see me in the morning if she had no intention of coming home._” 

Startled by this realization, Adrien steps backward quickly bumping into his computer chair, making it noisily clatter against the hardwood floor again.

“Hrrrm?” Adrien hears from his bed. “Kid, what are you doing?” Plagg croaks out. Hearing no response, Plagg stretches atop the plump pillow and then lazily flies over to his chosen.

He sees Adrien pacing back and forth across the room, tightly holding a sticky note. “Adrien?” Plagg asks again, flying up close to the blonde to stop him mid-stride.

“Plagg” Adrien says dryly, his eyes glued to the small yellow note. “She thought she was coming home.” 

“Who kid? Who thought she was coming home?” Plagg questions, clearly confused.

“My mother,” Adrien says, turning back to look at his mother's face on the bright monitor. “She thought she was coming home that night.”

“Well, I’m sure she did kid…” Plagg trails off, ears dropping flat against his head.

“No Plagg, this means she didn’t just leave!” Adrien explains. “It rules out that she left her life behind… or worse. She thought she would be home for Christmas morning.” Adrien looks to the Kwami waiting for things to click in the small creature's head, but Plagg stares back blankly.

“My father didn’t want me to talk to the police,” slips from Adrien’s lips. “Plagg, he didn’t want me to talk to the police,” Adrien repeats, starting his pacing again. “M-maybe he knew mother intended to be home that night” Adrien stutters out. “B-but why wouldn’t he want the police to know that?” he nearly whispers.

“Kid?” Plagg says concerned, flying to keep up with Adrien’s rapidly increasing steps.

“Why would he want to keep information from the police… why would he do that… unless…” Adrien mumbles out, half talking to the Kwami and half talking to himself.

Suddenly his pacing stops and Adrien is standing in the middle of his bedroom with dark shadows cast across him. The screens featuring his mother's smiling face provide the only light source in the room. Plagg silently flies up in front of Adrien’s face to see tears falling down his cheeks.

“Hey, Adrien i-it’s going to be okay” Plagg tries to reassure him. Plagg watches Adrien’s hands tense into fists at his sides.

“Plagg” Adrien says darkly, raising his head to look at the Kwami, “we are going to get answers.” 

  
  


Over the next couple hours in the light of his computer monitors, Adrien and Plagg drafted plans for the following day. He and Plagg brainstormed where a group of 16-year-olds could talk in relative privacy. A hotel room would be weird and hard to reserve. Any of their houses weren’t private enough. Eventually, they decided a karaoke room would do just fine. With this, Adrien created a fake registration email for an all-day Japanese language workshop in the part of town he needed to be in.

The lies came easier than he thought the next morning. After sleeping a couple restless hours, he messaged his four closest friends asking them to meet him at Bam Karaoke Box at 2:00pm. He messaged them via an online app, hoping it will make it harder for his father to monitor the content of the text. He apologized to Nathalie for not letting her know about the workshop earlier which she simply accepted. She agreed to have Gorilla drop him off for the educational session. Once Gorilla parked outside the Japanese Cultural Center, Adrien let him know what time tonight to come pick him up, letting him know he didn’t need to stay for hours of boring Japanese lessons. His years of being a ‘good boy’ seemed to pay off, as Gorilla drove away without a second thought. 

Once Gorilla was gone from sight, Adrien walked a few blocks to the karaoke bar. Using cash he had collected from birthdays, Christmas and other miscellaneous sources he booked a room from 1:30pm to close. He put the reservation under a fake name, just to cover his tracks.

He had a few minutes before his friends were scheduled to arrive, and he sat in the private karaoke room with Plagg trying to compose himself. He was on edge, to say the least. The thoughts from last night were tormenting him, coupled with lying to Nathalie and Gorilla and not getting much sleep. He felt Plagg curled up in his jacket, gently purring in order to calm him. 

He waited as patiently as he could, his heart beating in his ears as it got closer to 2:00pm. Checking his phone again, it was just a couple minutes before 2:00pm. He then heard a group of voices not far from outside his door, and distinctly caught one of them mention the name Adrien.

At this, he flew out of the room to gather his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy another chapter of this story! I was struck with inspiration so this chapter came pretty quickly to me. Please feel free to leave any feedback you have in the comments, it is always appreciated!
> 
> In my story, I have them all at 16-17 years old - slightly aged up from the show. It is unclear how much time has passed in the show currently, so in the canon of this story Ladybug and Chat Noir have been around for about 2 years. I will try to stay canon compliant, but obviously will need to make up certain elements that haven't been explored. We know next to nothing about Emilie's disappearance in the show, other than the Christmas special indicated she had been missing for about 1 year. Since he was so emotional in that special, I thought it made sense for his mother to have also gone missing over Christmas (the Christmas before he became Chat Noir).
> 
> Additionally, I tried doing some research on the French justice system so I hope my application of it isn't too illogical. Feel free to leave a comment if I grossly misrepresent a French judicial process.


	3. Normal Teenager

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien confesses his suspicions about his father to his friends.

  
  


Despite telling himself to keep a level head while talking with his friends, Adrien felt the dam inside of himself break. Once he saw the empathy in Marinette’s face, it immediately reminded him of his caring and compassionate mother. Every facade he had put up over the years seemed to crash down all in that moment.

After confessing his suspicions about his father, it feels like a weight that was previously suffocating his body was lessened just a bit. He holds Marinette’s gaze for a moment watching her face shift from empathy to surprise at his words. Self-conscious of his own tears and utterly exhausted from the night before, Adrien’s head falls forward, his forehead coming to rest on Marinette’s shoulder. He hears his friend gasp at this, but he doesn’t move simply wanting to hide for a moment with his face in her shoulder.

His hand is now laying in her lap, and he can feel both of her hands still continue to hold his tight. “_This is so embarrassing, breaking down like this_” Adrien thinks, as he silently cries into his petite friend, but she stays with him unwavering.

He found after a bit of time, her closeness seems to soothe him. “_She smells like cinnamon and sugar,_” Adrien thinks as he relishes in the warmness of just being close to someone. Ever since his mother had disappeared, there was a distinct lack of physical affection in his life. “_It’s nice… being close to someone like this_” Adrien considers, as he feels Marinette’s fingers continue to rub over his hand in a comforting way. He takes another moment, listening to the music in the room and to Marinette’s breathing, trying to regain his composure. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he soon feels a steady hand rub soothing circles on his back.

“Adrien” Nino’s voice cuts through the silence, “we’re so sorry dude.” Hoping his face isn’t too much of a wreck Adrien lifts his head from Marinette’s shoulder. As he sits up, he looks over to the bluenette’s face. He sees Marinette’s face is flushed in a dark red as she blinks back at him.

“_Shit, I embarrassed her_” Adrien considers, “_she probably isn’t used to me being such a blubbering mess._”

Adrien moves to pull his hand from between both of hers, but she holds him tightly. Blinking the wetness from his eyes, he looks to their hands and then back to her. Despite the redness in her face, she smiles softly and pats his hand between hers. Adrien smiles softly back at her, sitting up all the way keeping his hand secure in hers. Using his other hand, he wipes the remaining tears from his cheeks and eyes.

Looking ahead of him, he sees Nino must have pulled up a chair and moved closer to him and Marinette. Alya stands behind his chair and Chloe seems to have scooted her chair up closer as well. Instead of feeling trapped or cornered, Adrien feels his heart fill up with love. “_All these people, they really care about me_” Adrien realizes, “_they’re not running away, they are here… for me._” About to break down again, this time from his friends' overwhelming support, he brings his hand up to his eyes and rests his elbow on his knee, holding his head in place.

He feels Marinette continue to squeeze his hand and he feels Nino place a reassuring hand on his knee. Their patience and kindness almost brings him to another choking point, but he gathers himself again, wiping his eyes and sitting up. 

“Th-thanks guys” he gets out in a bit of a cracked voice. “I guess I owe you more of an explanation other than just falling apart in a karaoke room,” he says with a self-deprecating laugh.

“We’re all ears Adrien,” Alya says. 

With a deep sigh, Adrien starts to tell his tale. He goes over the night before, of course leaving out any information about him talking and conspiring with a tiny black Kwami. He tells them about all the details he read on the internet last night. The articles with the official story, and then the theorists with alternate theories. From there he tells the story of the morning his mother went missing. He explains his new interpretation of how his father reacted. He begins to break down again when he shares with his friends the last thing his mother ever said to him.

“Sh-she said she would see me in the morning,” he says as he chokes up again, swallowing hard. “That’s where this all came together in my head” he clarifies. After he is finished explaining everything rushing through his mind since the night before, no one talks immediately. 

Chloe is the first one to break the silence saying, “well I wouldn’t be _that_ surprised honestly.” 

Everyone's heads to turn to look at the blonde girl. “I mean Uncle Gabriel is a mysterious guy, he hardly ever leaves his house, barely lets Adrien live his life and has a ton of money to pull something like this off” Chloe says matter-of-factly. 

“But Chloe” Marinette says with both her hands still clasped around Adrien’s hand, “this is Gabriel Agreste. He’s a world-renowned fashion designer, not some sort of criminal.”

“I know you look up to him Marinette, but you never know sometimes…” Alya pitches in. “Chloe is right, sometimes rich people can get away with certain...things…” Alya tries to say gently.

“I know what you guys are saying,” Adrien says plainly. “I’ve thought about all of this. My father, he doesn’t tell me a lot. He’s always busy and while it could all be business-related... now I just don’t know.” 

“Well dude, how did he treat your mom, ya know, before?” Nino asks. 

“He was different” Adrien answers. “He was still cold and distant but he was more present,” he says, ever aware of Marinette’s warm hands wrapped around his. “We used to do a lot together as a family. He was always doting on my mother. She was one of the only people I’ve seen make my father laugh” Adrien says with a small smile. “But it is strange, despite the paintings of her all over the home we rarely talk about her, her disappearance, where she could be…” Adrien trails off, the small smile on his face quickly fading. 

"Do you want to go to the police with all this?" Alya asks.

"No... I don't. Not yet at least" Adrien answers. "I want to see what we can find out without my father knowing someone is looking into things, you know? Also, I'd like to keep this between the five of us for now" he finishes, watching his friends nod in agreement. 

“Let’s make a plan then,” Alya says, pounding her fist in her off-hand. “Obviously a disappearance requires investigation, something I happen to specialize in” she accents by splaying her fingers across her chest. “Every great investigative journalist requires an assistant,” she adds, “good thing I already have one” she finishes, grabbing Nino by the bill of his hat.

“And as Queen Bee I am personal BFFs with Ladybug, the guardian of Paris” Chloe adds confidently. “I will reach out to her and see if she and Chat Noir can help out.”

Adrien feels Marinette’s grasp tighten a bit at this comment. Then the bluenette says, “Adrien I’m here to help you in any way I can” she emphasizes with a smile. “I wish I had some special skills or connections that could help with the investigation.”

Adrien looks over to her, a bit bewildered. “Are you kidding Marinette?” he says, “you are an incredibly talented designer! I’m sure we could think of some way to use that - my father has already been impressed with you in the past.” He smiles back at his friend and sees her face again lit up in red. “There’s no need to be embarrassed Mari” he adds, “you’re genuinely extremely talented.” 

“Th-thanks Adrien” Marinette gets out, her face seemingly getting redder by the second. Smiling softly at Marinette he turns back to the group.

“I really appreciate all the ideas guys,” Adrien says. “I felt so lost last night but now I feel like we have some direction… and maybe I can get some answers.” Adrien breathes a bit easier and while he heaviness in his chest has lessened, it is still present.

“I don’t mean to bring the mood down after it just got brought back up,” Alya says softly, “but Adrien do you feel safe at home?” 

His hand resting on his knee grips it tightly, and he can feel his other hand grip Marinette’s more tightly. “_I haven’t thought about that_” Adrien thinks, his brow furrowing. 

“Adrien?” Marinette asks quietly, giving his hand a squeeze. 

“Uh yeah guys” Adrien responds, sounding quite unsure. “My father is strict but he’s never hurt me… and besides, even if he tried anything I can handle myself” he responds, mumbling through the last part of his sentence.

“Dude if you ever feel unsafe, let us know. We will get you out” Nino says seriously.

“So, how did you get out today?” Chloe asks. 

With a sigh, Adrien then describes to his four friends how he formulated a plan to get out today without anyone knowing where he was or what he was doing. “I have a lot of the day left, the Gorilla isn’t picking me up at the Japanese Cultural Center until 7:00pm” he explains. “And after dark I have a plan to sneak out again if you guys don’t mind waiting we could meet up again then” Adrien requests. “I’ve never done a late-night weekend hangout and I’d really like to spend more time out of the house today” he admits rubbing the back of his neck.

“Of course dude!” Nino says enthusiastically. 

“A-Adrien” Marinette quietly calls his attention to her. “Do you want to start looking into things today or just hug it out - I mean hang out!” She corrects herself.

“Honestly,” Adrien says, “I’m wiped out. My brain is fried. Can we just hug it out like normal teenagers for a bit?” He laughs, poking fun at Marinette. He pulls his hand out from her two, holding his arms open for a hug. Marinette simply blinks back at him, while the other three giggle at Adrien’s light teasing. 

To his delight, Marinette joins the giggling and then leans in for the hug. Adrien wraps his arms around his small friend, bringing her head beneath his chin. Nino piles onto the group hug, followed by Alya who drags Chloe in. The blonde girl reluctantly joins the group hug with a scoff.

They stay like that for a while, friends all holding each other in one large group hug. Adrien can’t help but think of how warm and soft Marinette feels held against him. “_She has been so amazing today,_” Adrien thinks to himself, “_they all have. I’m so lucky to have them all as friends._” Despite his best efforts, Adrien begins to sniffle again as tears slowly drip from his eyes. Gradually the group hug breaks apart, and they all see him crying again.

“Dude, it’s going to be okay,” Nino says in an attempt to comfort him.

“Oh I know Nino,” Adrien says between sniffles. “These are different tears, I’m just so happy to have all of you as friends. I never thought I would have something like this” he admits.

“We’re here for you Adrien. No matter what happens” Marinette says with confidence. 

“So normal teens, how long do we have this room for?” Alya inquires.

Adrien lets them know he reserved the room until 6:00pm, so if they want they could actually do some karaoke. After a bit of chatting, no one really wanted to jump in and embarrass themselves - other than Nino and Alya. Chloe, Adrien, and Marinette sit through a few duets performed for them by the couple, and as the terrible performance dragged on there was more laughing than singing from everyone in the room. Eventually, Adrien and Marinette got dragged into singing a duet from Jagged Stone's new album, and Chloe even jumped in belting out a piece by XY. By the end of it, Adrien’s cheeks ached from laughing so hard.

After awhile Adrien checks his phone and realizes they only have the room for another 30 minutes. _"I guess time does fly by when you're having fun,"_ he thinks to himself. "So guys, we only have the room for a bit longer, what should we do next?" He asks his friends.

“I don’t know about you losers but I’m starving." Chloe pipes up. "And there just so happens to be the most fabulous sushi place not too far from here” Chloe states. “Of course I know where to get the most excellent sushi in Paris given that it’s my favorite food.”

“I could go for sushi” Adrien agrees.

“Blegh” Nino says, sticking his tongue out comically. “Raw fish? Miss me with that” he says, crossing his arms in defiance. 

“Come on Nino you gotta try new things” Alya encourages. “Plus they probably have other things on the menu” she offers.

“I would like sushi” Marinette adds.

“Ugh fine” Nino gives in with a smirk. 

  
  


The teens leave the karaoke joint after Adrien has a short conversation with the front desk attendant. They walk down the streets with Chloe leading the way, Nino and Alya walking hand in hand behind her, and him and Marinette walking behind them. 

“_I should probably apologize for falling apart all over her,_” Adrien thinks, looking at his shy friend next to him. “_Wait a minute…_” he notes to himself, leaning back a bit to inspect Marinette’s black jacket.

“Mari, I love your jacket!” Adrien exclaims excitedly. Marinette seems to jump at his sudden exclamation, nearly tripping over herself when she looks over to him.

“Oh, thanks Adrien,” she says with a bright smile.

“Where did you get it?” Adrien inquires, “I would love to get a Ladybug version!” 

“I actually made it myself” Marinette admits quietly, grabbing the ends of the jacket nervously and blushing. “I actually feel kinda silly wearing it today considering everything…” she trails off. 

“No don’t feel silly” Adrien insists. “I actually want to apologize for earlier” he continues looking at Marinette intently. “I’m sorry I fell apart all over you… that must have been pretty embarrassing” he finishes, blushing a bit himself.

“Oh no!” Marinette says, waving her arms in front of her. “It wasn’t a problem at all! It was fine!” She quickly gets out, “I mean it obviously wasn’t _fine_ you know, considering everything, but I didn’t mind at all Adrien… I was happy to help.” Adrien looks down at his slightly frazzled friend. “I was happy to be there for you” she quietly adds.

Adrien finds himself turning redder at Marinette’s words. “I’m… happy you were here too Mari” he says, smiling softly at the bluenette. She looks up smiling back at him, but he watches her smile slowly falter and then fall.

“So… are you going to tell Kagami about all of this?” Marinette asks, “I’m surprised you didn’t invite her here today.” 

“Kagami is actually in Japan for the next few weeks visiting family” Adrien answers. “I didn’t want to concern her with all this via text or on the phone, you know?”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Marinette says with a nod. 

  
  


After a bit more walking, the group arrives at Le Petit Japonais and grab a table for dinner. They all order various types of sushi and specialty rolls, with Nino settling for rolls with cooked fish only. The dinner is a welcome distraction from everything on his mind. Adrien chats with his friends about school, their various activities and of course the city's ever-growing superhero team. As the camaraderie continues, Adrien can’t help but feel a bit at peace. “_So this is what being a normal teenager feels like,_” Adrien thinks, looking over to Alya teasing Nino with a piece of raw salmon. “_I wish I could stay in this moment forever_” he considers. But the moment could not last forever, and as the friends finish up paying the bill Adrien sees it is time for him to head back to the Japanese Cultural Center. 

Leaving the restaurant, he says goodbye to his friends, giving them each a big hug. They all agree to meet at the park by the school right after sunset to begin the nighttime hangouts. Chloe had previous plans with Sabrina and offers to bail on her, but Adrien insists not to cancel on Sabrina. Looking forward to seeing Nino, Alya and Marinette later Adrien makes his way back to the Japanese Cultural Center. Adrien steps into the entryway of the center and tries to look as casual as possible waiting for Gorilla to come to pick him up. Like clockwork, Gorilla arrives at 7:00pm sharp. Adrien greets his silent chauffeur and slides into the back seat of the car. After the short drive home, Adrien finds himself falling into the rhythm of dutifully walking up to the mansion. He can’t help but feel a sense of dread wash over him as he passes the large front doors.

Adrien steps into the foyer and is greeted by the ever-present Nathalie.

“Good evening Adrien,” she coolly says.

“Good evening Nathalie,” Adrien smiles back.

“Did you enjoy your time at the cultural center?” She asks, barely looking up from her tablet.

“Yes, I learned a lot,” Adrien replies.

“Did you need dinner prepared?” Nathalie asks.

“No, thank you, there was dinner at the center” Adrien answers shortly, walking to make his way past her up the stairs to his room.

“One moment Adrien,” Nathalie calls to him as he ascends the first couple of stairs.

“Yes?” Adrien asks, turning to look at his father’s assistant. 

Pushing the glasses up on her face she says, “your father’s schedule has unexpectedly opened up tomorrow evening and your presence is requested for dinner.” 

“Sounds… great,” Adrien replies with a thumbs up. “Anything else?” he asks.

“That will be all,” Nathalie replies, noting something in her tablet. Adrien wishes her a good night and finishes ascending the stairs to his room. Adrien dips through his bedroom door, locking it behind him and letting out a deep sigh.

Flying out of his jacket pocket, Plagg says, “well, today went better than expected.” The small Kwami flies over to a cabinet door, easily phasing through it to munch down on some camembert. 

“Yeah I guess it did go well” Adrien responds, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and hanging it on the door. “It doesn’t seem like father, Nathalie or the Gorilla suspected anything was off today.” Adrien walks over to the cabinet door, opening it to watch Plagg continue to stuff his face with cheese.

“Who would’ve thought all this time lying and sneaking around would make you good at lying and sneaking around?” Plagg asks, between chews. 

“Funny Plagg,” Adrien says, rolling his eyes. “Still, it’s a little exhilarating, doing what I want as Adrien. Chat gets to do whatever he wants, but this is all new for Adrien.”

“Kid, you know you are Chat Noir right?” Plagg says deadpan. 

“Of course, but I can’t exactly run around with my friends as Chat Noir” Adrien rebuffs. “Speaking of running around, let’s head back out. I don’t feel like being in this house any longer than I need to today.” 

  
  


After waiting a few minutes longer to ensure no one would be checking on him, Adrien calls his transformation and bounds from his window as Chat Noir. He quickly puts distance between himself and the mansion, with each rooftop bound bringing him closer to his friends. When he is a couple blocks away from the park, he slips into an alley and transforms back into Adrien. Smiling at the prospect of this fun night, he hustles over to the park to see his friends again.

Adrien approaches Marinette, Nino, and Alya waiting for him in the park. 

“Hey again dude!” Nino greets him with a fistbump. 

“Aren’t you going to be cold?” Alya asks him with an eyebrow raised.

Adrien looks down and realizes he didn’t put his jacket back on after getting home. “Uhh.. I guess I got excited about sneaking out” he laughs rubbing his bare arms. “I’ll be fine! We can always go somewhere indoors to hang out too” he suggests.

“Well…” Marinette chimes in, “I did promise Nathaniel I would swing by to support him at the pumpkin carving competition near the Eiffel Tower tonight. The US Embassy is hosting a ‘Halloween’ type event apparently. I would hate to not show up…”

“That sounds like fun!” Adrien responds, “I’ll be fine, it’s not _that_ cold tonight.” 

“B-but I would hate for you to get sick!” Marinette says, obviously looking distraught.

“I know my bro here never gets out,” Nino says, placing a hand on Adrien’s shoulder, “but he can handle one night out without a jacket.” 

“Nino’s right” Adrien agrees, “let’s head over to the pumpkins!” 

With that, the four head out of the park walking towards the nighttime lights of the Eiffel Tower. Arriving at the base, there appear to be vendors serving food and drinks. There are small carnival-like games, along with pumpkins for purchase.

Adrien’s eyes sparkle looking upon the Parisian nightlife, a nightlife for the common folk - not the nightlife of the red carpet he was all too familiar with. The crowd had an excited murmur to it, a mix of English and French. The air is filled with the smell of fried foods, cinnamon, and cider. The gentle glimmer of the Eiffel Tower lights up the fall colors of the plaza, painting everything in warm reds, oranges, and yellows.

“This is awesome,” Adrien says, feet planted firmly in place head turning back and forth to take in all the sights.

He hears a giggling next to him, looking down to see Marinette. “I’m glad you like it Adrien,” she says. Still taking in the wonders of everything, he didn’t seem to notice his friends continue to walk ahead of him. “We should probably keep walking though” he hears her say, but does not quite register it. He hears a bit more giggling and then feels something soft and warm wrap around his right hand. Finally snapping out of it, he looks down and sees Marinette’s hand grabbing his as she practically drags him forward.

Blinking, he steps forward following her lead. Adrien allows Marinette to guide him through the crowd, giving him additional opportunities to look at everything around him. “_Funnel cakes? I need to get those_” he tells himself. “_And that hand-pressed cider looks amazing, I hope the others want to chow down as much as I do_” he considers. After walking behind Marinette in a daze for a bit, she stops suddenly and he barely catches himself before running over her.

“There you are girl,” Alya says, turning around to look at the two of them. “You two are really into the hand holding today aren’t you?” She says coyly, glancing down at their still connected hands. Adrien and Marinette both look down at their clasped hands, each drawing their hands back to themselves quickly.

With a nervous laugh Marinette says to the pair, “so did you find Nathaniel’s pumpkin carving yet?” 

“Hell yeah we did!” Nino responds, waving them through the crowd of people watching the artists carve the pumpkins.

“Woah,” Adrien says as he approaches the wide variety of pumpkin carvings. Some artists had stacked pumpkins, carving them into one cohesive piece. Others had opted to use one large pumpkin for their design. He sees all types of 'American' October themed carvings: cats, witches, bats, and spiders. One, in particular, catches his eye, a pumpkin carved into a cauldron complete with dry ice for a bubbling over effect. They approach Nathaniel’s carving and see he opted to use one large pumpkin. As Adrien inspects the carving his face lights up immediately.

“Nathaniel! This is **AWESOME!**” He shouts, perhaps a bit too loud as some people in the crowd look over in his direction. The shy redhead’s face matches his hair at the compliment but he returns Adrien’s flattery with a smile.

“Thank you Adrien,” Nathaniel says. The carving on the pumpkin obviously portrayed Ladybug as a witch, flying on a broomstick with Chat Noir sitting on the back of her broom like a cat. It was whimsical, artistic and very well-done.

“Nathaniel I knew you were a great artist on paper, but I’m super impressed with your carving too” Alya chips in, leaning in to inspect his work. “You even got the correct amount of spots on Ladybug” she adds.

“Yeah he even got the two dots right above her eyes” Adrien chips in leaning forward, “artists always seem to forget those…” he trails off.

“Since when are you the Ladybug expert Agreste?” Alya quips back. 

“Uhh...uhhh…” Adrien stutters, “I’m just a big fan that’s all,” he says leaning back and crossing his arms. He can see Marinette sneaking a glance at him but then she turns her attention back to Nathaniel. 

“It’s really great Nathaniel” Marinette adds. “I think you have a great shot at winning!” 

Suddenly Adrien’s attention is drawn from the carving to a disturbance in the crowd. “Ah watch it!” Nino shouts from behind him, as two teenagers seem to be roughhousing, pushing people into him. Adrien turns completely to watch two teenage boys who are seemingly involved in some kind of dispute. He listens to the shouting match, which appears to be in English. He can make out that it seems to be a disagreement about money. Suddenly, one of the boys shoves the other, who goes careening backward. The shoved boy loses his balance, falling backward into an artist's table and sending pumpkins flying. To Adrien’s despair, the cauldron pumpkin seems to have been the casualty, the hard work now laying in a mush on the ground.

“My-my pumpkin” a teen not much older than himself comes from around his toppled table. He kneels down at his destroyed carving, reaching for the larger pieces almost seeming to try to put them back together. 

The apparently American boy who was pushed into the table quickly stands up and scampers off, along with his attacker, leaving the poor artist alone. Adrien watches as the artist begins to cry alone on the ground, but to Adrien's surprise, the artist isn’t alone for long. 

Adrien watches as Marinette kneels down next to the young man, placing a hand on his shoulder. Adrien watches as Marinette seemingly tries to calm the young man down. “_Marinette really is amazing,_” Adrien thinks, smiling down at Marinette as she talks with the man. “_She doesn’t even know this guy but of course she’s trying to help. Our everyday Ladybug_” he ponders, smiling and watching Marinette. Over the sound of the crowd, he can’t quite make out what Marinette is saying to the young man, but he hopes it is helping.

He continues to observe as Marinette gets the artist's table up straight again, before turning back to help him clean up the mush on the ground. Right as Adrien is about to step forward to help, his breath catches in his throat. Hiding in the night sky he sees a small dark purple butterfly fluttering over to the artist. 

Adrien pushes himself forward, grabbing Marinette by the waist. “Get behind me!” He shouts, putting himself between Marinette and the soon to be Akumatized victim. As he suspected, the dark moth flies into the young man's cauldron ladle, and a familiar purple silhouette appears over his face.

He hears Alya and Nino behind him urging the crowd to get away. But the mostly American crowd doesn’t seem to understand their French. “Run away! Monster!” Adrien tries shouting in English. The crowd doesn’t seem to take much notice of him, going about their business. Still holding onto Marinette he pulls her through the crowd, passing by Alya who is filming and being similarly dragged away by Nino. 

Suddenly, the mostly American crowd seems to understand as the screaming begins. Getting to the edge of the crowd, Adrien ducks behind a funnel cake stand with Marinette. Breathing heavily from his sprint, he puts Marinette behind him, peeking up to look over the stand. Ahead of him he sees the Akumatized victim. The young artist seems to have turned into some sort of alchemist with a large cauldron. “Shit” Adrien mutters under his breath as he sees the crowds folk caught in the smoky tendrils of the cauldron being pulled into its boiling depths. 

“Mari we need to get out-” he says, turning around to speak with Marinette.

To his surprise, Marinette is gone.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that season 3 finale kinda blew me off track with this story. I wasn't expecting any of that...
> 
> **Spoilers below**
> 
> I wasn't ready for Fu to relinquish the miracle box, for the auxiliary heroes identities to be revealed, Chloe's redemption arc to be destroyed and for the love square to fall apart. I wanted this story to be canon compliant but unfortunately I don't think it can be at this point. I don't see how Marinette can be the guardian and _not_ know Chat Noir's identity... which left me in a bit of a pickle canon wise. I'm still considering rewriting the first few chapters to be canon compliant but I'm leaning towards not doing that. Any thoughts? 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Sabre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir take on the now Akumatized artist using some new strategies.

  
  


Marinette sprints from the funnel cake stand the moment Adrien turns his back to her. _“If I stayed with him I wouldn’t be able to transform,”_ she tells herself. 

“Marinette!” Tikki yells from her purse, “what about your friends?” 

“I have my best shot of saving them as Ladybug, Tikki transform me!” Marinette calls, diving being a dumpster. With that, Marinette is coated in the magical pink and red energy of the Ladybug miraculous, transforming her into Paris’s pigtailed-protector: Ladybug. Twirling her yo-yo to gain momentum, she tosses it to a building edge, pulling herself to the rooftop. 

From her new vantage point, she looks over to the festivities currently being interrupted by the Akumatized victim. “_This looks bad,_” she considers. She watches the artist she was trying to calm down, now a maniacal villain. He is wearing dark alchemist robes and is floating above the crowd on a giant flying cauldron. Ladybug watches in terror as the smoke from the cauldron seeps into the crowd, grabbing everyone it touches and plunging them into the strange green liquid inside it.

She hears the soft pad of someone landing behind her and turns around to see her partner Chat Noir.

“I’m glad you’re here so fast,” Ladybug comments. 

“It was pretty easy given I was at the festival tonight,” Chat replies with a toothy grin.

“Chat!” Ladybug chastises him, “I can’t know you were here… it could compromise our secret identities.” 

“Sorry my Lady,” Chat says, his ears dropping against his head. “Anyway, there really seems to be trouble _brewing_ down there. Any ideas on how to handle this?” Chat asks her.

“Hmmm,” Ladybug hums, continuing to observe the Akuma as it drags more and more people into his cauldron.

“Ladybug, look,” Chat says, stepping forward to stand next to her. He places his hand on her shoulder and points to the Akuma. “It looks like it’s getting bigger,” he observes.

“You’re right,” Ladybug responds, continuing to watch the Akuma's cauldron grow as it consumes more festival-goers. “How can we get close to it without getting caught in that smoke? It seems touching that smoke at all is a death sentence…” she wonders aloud. 

“We could try blowing on the smoke really hard?” Chat jokingly suggests.

“Blowing… really hard,” Ladybug considers. “Kitty, you’re a genius!” She spins around to give him a pat on the head.

“Uhhhh...thanks?” Chat smiles back at her.

“Chat, do what you can to get citizens away from the Akuma without getting caught in the cauldron,” she instructs. “I will be right back, I need to see Master Fu.”

“Understood my Lady,” he nods back to her. “Be safe,” he states.

“You too Kitty,” Ladybug replies with a smile before running and leaping off the edge of the rooftop, swinging away on her yo-yo. 

  
  


Ladybug flies and jumps from rooftop to rooftop getting closer to the massage parlour Master Fu lives in. Once she is a couple blocks away, she dips into an alley dropping her transformation. Tikki immediately takes her place back in Marinette’s purse. With urgency in her step, she walks up to the front door of the parlour. Looking through the window she sees a ‘closed’ sign and dark interior.

“Shoot it’s pretty late,” Marinette says to Tikki. “Do you think he’s asleep?”

“He might be Marinette, but this is an emergency,” Tikki whispers. “We should go inside anyway.”

“Okay Tikki,” Marinette agrees, giving the Kwami a nod. Tikki flies up to the door and phases through it. After a couple of seconds, the door unlocks with a click. Marinette grabs the handle, turning it and dipping behind the door into the darkness.

“Master Fu?” Marinette whispers into the blackness taking some tentative steps into the completely dark room.

“Marinette? Tikki?” A small voice sounds from the gramophone in the corner.

“Wayzz!” Marinette quietly exclaims, “where is Master Fu? I need the miracle box,” she explains. After justifying her breaking and entering, they all hear a loud boom and feel the ground shake beneath her feet.

“Oh, Master is asleep,” Wayzz responds after the loud sound, “let me go get him.”

“Please Wayzz, there’s an Akuma, be quick!” Tikki insists.

Wayzz nods and then quickly flits into the other room. After a few moments, Master Fu appears in his pajamas, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes.

“Marinette, it’s late for this old man,” he says, his tiredness apparent in his voice.

“I know Master but I need the Dragon miraculous,” Marinette explains, “it’s the only way I can think to defeat the Akuma.”

“Very well,” Master Fu says, walking over to the gramophone. Master Fu dutifully punches in the combination, exposing the miracle box. As the drawers and top open, Marinette reaches forward and grabs the Dragon miraculous. 

“Are you sure this is what you need Marinette?” Master Fu asks through weary eyes.

“Yes Master,” she nods. “I’ll bring it back in the morning?” She inquires.

With a yawn Master Fu says, “that would be fine.”

“Goodnight Master,” Marinette says.

“Goodnight Marinette, and good luck,” Master Fu responds. 

  
  


With that, Marinette exits the massage parlour, again finding an alley to transform into Ladybug. With haste, she takes off back to the Eiffel Tower where the Akuma was creating citizen soup. She immediately notices the Eiffel Tower laying horizontal on top of the Akuma and his cauldron, trapping him momentarily. It was clearly the result of Chat's Cataclysm. She then sees Chat helping some stragglers from the crowd, ferrying them far from the scene. 

“Chat! Up here!” Ladybug shouts from the rooftops. She sees Chat’s leather ears twitch at her call, but he finishes carrying the civilian in his arms to safety before turning around to see her. His attention is then pulled from her when they both hear and feel a thump of the Eiffel Tower being pushed up and then falling again. Using his floating cauldron, the Akuma was pushing the massive iron structure up to get off of him but had not succeeded quite yet .

Extending his baton, Chat Noir comes up to Ladybug’s rooftop. Breathing heavily from his efforts he says, “my Lady I’m glad you’re back. Things were getting rough without you.”

“I’m glad you’re okay Kitty,” Ladybug responds.

“I need you to handle things for a bit while I go hide to let Plagg recharge,” Chat explains, “I only have a couple minutes left before I transform back.” 

“That won’t be a problem,” Ladybug says, unfurling her hand to reveal the Dragon miraculous. “Chat, I need you to use the Dragon miraculous in combination with your miraculous, this way you can keep fighting even when Plagg’s transformation runs out,” she instructs.

“Understood Ladybug,” Chat says with a serious nod. He reaches over and takes the choker, snapping it around his neck.

With a flash of bright light, the red dragon Kwami manifests. “Greetings Chat Noir-san, Ladybug-san,” Longg says with a nod. With that, they all turn upon hearing another loud creaking noise followed by a loud bang. The Akuma was getting very close to breaking out of the impromptu iron cage the toppled Eiffel Tower formed.

“Sorry to keep things short Longg-sama,” Chat Noir states, “I’d love to chat but we need you now.” Longg answers with a short bow.

“Plagg, Longg-sama, unify!” Chat Noir shouts, combining the miraculous powers of the Black Cat and Dragon miraculous. After a surge of power and flash of bright light her newly dressed partner stands next to her. Sword in one hand, baton in the other, his usual black suit is accented with lines and patches of red. On his chest is the trifecta of elements granted to him by the Dragon miraculous. His black cat ears are more pointed, and dragon spikes join them along each side of the top of his head. The corners of his black mask come up to red-tipped points. His cat tail is a bit thicker, now covered with dragon spikes as well. 

“Well,” the blonde says spinning the sword with a flair, “how do I look my Lady?”

“Honestly, pretty damn cool,” she answers sincerely. 

Ladybug giggles as his face lights up in a deep blush, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling like a goofball. They both snap out of the moment by another loud crash and a bellowing voice from below screaming, “Chat Noir! I will destroy you!” 

“I think that’s our cue Ladybug,” he says, looking down at the Akuma who has finally freed his cauldron from the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

“Okay, err, Dragon Noir?" Ladybug suggests. "Keep a focused gust of wind on the cauldron at all times to keep the smoke away from us,” Ladybug instructs, as they begin to traverse the rooftops moving closer to the Akuma.

“Wind dragon!” Dragon Noir calls, the element of wind on his chest lighting up. From the rooftop, Dragon Noir sends the torrent of wind down at the Akuma in the opposite direction of himself and Ladybug. 

“Ahhh!” The Akuma yells at the unexpected gust, putting his arms up in front of his eyes. Ladybug watches as the cauldron fog passes over the Akuma but does not pull him into the depths of the bubbling liquid. 

“_Well, of course, it could never be that easy,_” Ladybug begrudges to herself. She watches from the rooftop as Dragon Noir continues to distract the Akuma, blowing harsh winds over his cauldron and into his face momentarily stunning him. The Akuma is struggling to move the cauldron closer to Dragon Noir with his wind powers disrupting the flying pot. She watches Dragon Noir look at his ring, seemingly running out of time with his Black Cat miraculous. 

“My lady!” Dragon Noir shouts from the ground, dodging a splash of the cauldron the villain flings his way. “The ladle! I think the Akuma is inside his ladle!” He yells.

Ladybug looks more closely at the Akuma, looking past his large and distracting cauldron into the man’s hands. There, in his left hand is a normal looking ladle seemingly able to control the flying cauldron like a wand. “_Of course!_” Ladybug thinks back to when she was kneeling with the young man before his Akumatization. “_The ladle from his art piece must be where the Akuma flew in!_” She tells herself. 

“Lucky charm!” Ladybug calls, a large dictionary falling into her hands. “_What am I going to do with this?_” She thinks to herself, brow furrowing in contemplation.

Ladybug hears a rapid beeping below her and then a green light washes over Dragon Noir, leaving only the power of the Dragon miraculous as Plagg’s power runs out. Ladybug takes note of the costume change her partner goes under mid-fight but does not have time to dwell on it.

As she watches the Akuma and her partner continue to counter each other around the toppled Eiffel Tower she is struck with an idea. Ladybug swings down behind her now mostly red-clad partner, dictionary in tow.

“This Akuma is pretty _vial_ isn’t he Bugaboo?” Her partner asks her, using his sword and wind powers to keep the liquid and gas away from both of them. 

“You can’t stop being a dork even with the cool Dragon miraculous?” Ladybug quips back. 

“Pfft,” he blows from between pursed lips, “of course not my Lady.” 

“What should I call you anyway?” Ladybug asks, dodging another attempted splash from the Akuma.

“Uhhh,” her partner stutters, “call me Sabre, yeah, that sounds cool.” 

“Okay _Sabre_, I need you to send a gust of wind focusing on the Akuma's face,” she instructs.

“Got it,” he replies, swinging his sword to blow a stream of air centered on the Akuma's face. Behind him, Ladybug takes the dictionary and rapidly rips pages out of it. When she has a handful of pages, she tosses them in front of Sabre allowing the air to carry them over to the Akuma. With a splat, the pages land true continually slapping into and covering the Akuma's face.

“Keep it up Sabre!” Ladybug calls as she uses this opportunity to push towards the Akuma while continuing to throw more paper into the air stream. As the Akuma is sufficiently distracted by the papers covering his face, Ladybug slips up next to him swiping the ladle from his hands. She easily breaks the object over her knee, revealing the dark Akuma inside. 

Swinging her yo-yo, she captures the tainted butterfly, cleansing the darkness from it. Looking down she sees the terribly abused dictionary still in her hands and throws it in the air she calling, “Miraculous Ladybug!” The restorative powers of the Ladybug miraculous wash over Paris fixing all the chaos caused by the Akuma.

  
  


“Ugh,” the young man on the ground groans, “what happened to me?” 

“You were Akumatized,” Sabre says, coming up to stand next to Ladybug. He offers a hand to the young man, helping to his feet. 

“Holy shit really?” The young man says, bringing his hands to his head. “I never thought something like that could happen to me… I am so sorry Ladybug and…?” He apologizes, stopping a bit confused, the glamour of the miraculous preventing him from recognizing Chat Noir.

“Sabre!” Her partner ‘introduces’ himself with a handshake, “happy to help.” 

With a giggle at her partner’s antics Ladybug turns to the victim and says, “are you going to be okay?” 

“Uh, yeah,” the young man looks around at the magically restored crowd and then to where his sculpture was destroyed. “No way,” the artist says, tears forming in his eyes, “you fixed it.” Ladybug looks as she sees the miraculous Ladybug power seems to have restored the young man’s cauldron sculpture. 

“Yes!” Sabre shouts with a fist pump to the air, “ah-hem I mean, that is great. Good luck with the competition!” Ladybug looks over to Sabre who responds with a sheepish shrug.

Before the heroes can make their exit, the call of “Ladybug!” comes from the crowd. It is the unmistakable voice of her best friend, pushing her way towards the artist's tables. “Ladybug! Have you seen my friends Marinette and Adrien?” The brunette asks frantically, “they ran off right before the Akuma and we haven’t seen them!”

“I’m sure they will show up,” Sabre says reassuringly. “The miraculous Ladybug power would make sure they are okay, right Ladybug?”

“R-right!” Ladybug stutters as her earrings let out a chime. “We should get going Sabre.” 

“Oh Sabre?” Alya says with a sparkle in her eye, “are you a new hero?” Alya quickly pulls out her phone, snapping a picture.

Ladybug and Sabre look to each other with a chuckle before taking off to run from the scene, eventually making their way to the rooftops. Once they are a sufficient distance from the scene, the pair catches their breath behind a large chimney. 

“Well Plagg I could never give you up, but the Dragon miraculous is pretty awesome,” Sabre says to the black Kwami as he floats out of hiding.

“Pssh,” Plagg deflects, “you offer a boy a sword and suddenly you are the _cool miraculous_.”

“Don’t be jealous Plagg,” Sabre says, offering Plagg a slice of camembert which magically drops from the hilt of his sword. “You know you are always my first choice,” Sabre says with a smile presenting the cheese as a peace offering.

“Sure, sure,” Plagg grins with an eye roll, happily taking the camembert. Ladybug smiles at the scene before hearing another chime from her earrings. 

“I’m going to transform back soon,” she says, looking at Sabre.

“Just go on the other side of the chimney,” Sabre points with a claw, “I was thinking we could refuel and maybe grab a funnel cake, perhaps some cider?” Sabre offers, looking up at her with pleading eyes; his own Dragon miraculous giving out warning chimes. 

“_I really shouldn’t,_” Lady considers, looking at her partner, “_but I’m sure I can come up with some excuse for Adrien, Alya and Nino._”

“Fine,” she agrees with a smile. “Just for a little bit, okay? I don’t need people to think my civilian half has gone missing.” 

“Don’t worry my Lady I won’t let things _drag-on_,” Sabre chuckles.

“Ugh, giving you a new miraculous brings a whole new host of puns I was unprepared for,” Ladybug huffs, jumping to the other side of the chimney. Sabre responds with a victorious chuckle.

“Longg-sama, detransform me,” she hears her partner call from the other side of the chimney. 

  
  


After a few moments of recharging for their respective Kwami, they both transform back into Ladybug and Chat Noir. Ladybug peeks around the chimney and sees Chat Noir doing some stretches.

“So, funnel cake?” She asks, with a smirk on her face.

“Ah, yesssss, funnel cake,” Chat says, finishing up his toe touch. “Here you are my Lady, one Dragon miraculous,” Chat says, presenting the choker to Ladybug.

Ladybug takes the necklace from Chat safely storing it in her yo-yo, and they both bound over the rooftops again headed back towards the festival. Dropping down into the crowd they spare a few minutes to take selfies with fans and sign some autographs. They approach a funnel cake stand and the vendor offers them funnel cake for free. Chat insists on paying, but the vendors insist also giving them each large cups of hand-pressed apple cider. After finishing up their appearance, carefully carrying their ciders and cake they climb up the side of the Eiffel Tower.

They take a seat on a large iron beam, placing the funnel cake between them. Ladybug watches as Chat reaches a claw down to the funnel cake, ripping off a generous piece and shoving it in his mouth.

“Oh my god,” Chat moans through a full mouth with an exaggerated eye roll, “fried goodness, so bad but so good.” 

With a giggle, Ladybug reaches over and rips a more modest piece off, taking a bite. “Wow, it is really good!” She agrees.

“I’ve been wanting to try these since I got to the festival tonight,” Chat admits, “so how did _you_ get to the scene of the Akuma so quickly my Lady?” Chat says with a suggestive tone.

“Chat!” She scolds him, defiantly crossing her arms, “you know I can’t answer that.”

“I just…” Chat begins quietly, “I just want to get to know you better Ladybug.”

Ladybug looks over to Chat, his ears flat against his head as he takes a long drink from his cider. He lowers his cup from his lips and continues, “are you the type of girl to come out to an autumn festival, or are you wearing your pajamas under your transformation?” He says with a sad smile, looking down into his cup. 

“_Poor kitty,_” Ladybug thinks to herself. “_He’s right, it would be nice to try to get to know each other a bit better, I need to stop being so harsh,_” she scolds herself.

“Sorry kitty,” Ladybug says softly, causing his drooping ears to twitch at the sound of her voice. “I just, take being Ladybug really seriously,” she confesses, “everyone is relying on me, Master Fu is preparing me to be the next guardian and I’m always afraid I’m going to screw things up.” She reaches over and pulls off another piece of funnel cake stuffing it in her mouth.

“Ladybug,” Chat says in response, turning to look at her once again. “If there’s anyone in the world that can handle this it’s you,” he says with a serious tone. “You are the smartest, most organized and capable person I know,” he continues, “and know you are never alone my Lady, I will always be here for you.”

Ladybug looks over at Chat, the soft glow of the Eiffel Tower illuminating him as he looks over her with a genuine smile.

“Thanks Chat,” she smiles back at him as he tears into the funnel cake again bringing it to his lips. “_Chat really has gotten handsome over the last couple of years,_” Ladybug muses, watching her partner enjoy the funnel cake and look down at the festival below. Unintentionally, her gaze has fallen to his lips which are dusted on one corner in powdered sugar. She watches as Chat’s lips purse into a smirk and he turns back to her.

“See something you like?” He teases, leaning in and wiggling his eyebrows at her again.

“Pfft!” She deflects. “No, all I see is some powdered sugar,” she giggles. Ladybug reaches over, tracing her thumb over the right side of Chat’s lips. An act that felt so innocent when it started took a turn when she hears her partner gasp under her touch. Her fingers linger for a moment and her eyes snap to his. She feels her heart jump into her throat before they both blush and turn away from each other. Nearly simultaneously they reach over to their cups, taking long drinks from their ciders. 

“_If that stupid cat just laughed along with me things wouldn’t be awkward like this!_” Ladybug internally screams.

Ladybug coughs a couple times, gathering her composure. “So….” Ladybug begins, looking at her frazzled partner. “You actually have green eyes?” She offers, trying to normalize the conversation again.

“Uhhhh….yes?” He responds with a slight head tilt, seemingly confused by her random comment.

“I mean, that time you know when you were Mister Bug,” she offers, “I was surprised, your eyes were actually green underneath your transformation.” 

“Oh,” Chat responds, continuing to blush, “yeah they are.”

“You know, the boy I’m in love with also has green eyes,” Ladybug says, instantly regretting the words the moment they spill from her lips.

“_What is wrong with you, why would you say that!?_” She cringes. She looks over to Chat’s face anticipating his mood to plummet but is surprised when instead his face fills with a cocky grin.

“Well good to know I’m your type Bugaboo,” he teases, reaching down to grab the last piece of funnel cake. 

“No, that piece is mine! You glutton!” Ladybug shoots back, reaching down to grapple with Chat for the final piece of the fried dessert. Ladybug grabs Chat’s wrist and attempts to use her other hand to grab the cake. Chat responds in turn by grabbing that hand with his free one. They struggle for a few moments, pushing back and forth laughing as neither of them can quite get the advantage. Their shared competitive spirit has each of them trying their hardest, causing genuine exertion. Suddenly, Chat loses his grip on her one arm giving her the advantage she needs. Using both her arms she pushes Chat onto his back, pinning him there.

“Ha! Gotcha! I win!” She breathes heavily over him, her legs on each side of his waist, holding him in place. She looks down at him, he is also breathing heavily and smiling up at her with half-lidded eyes. His blonde hair is strewn behind him on the iron bar they share, their skin-tight suits leaving little to the imagination. Their sudden situation dawns heavily on her, “_oh this might not be appropriate,_” she thinks, her blush returning.

Her attention momentarily drawn away, she watches in amazement as Chat brings his hand up to his mouth, shoving the last piece of funnel cake into his mouth. “What!” She shouts, gaping down at him. “When did you get that?!” She shrieks.

“You gotta keep your eye on the prize Bugaboo,” Chat says between chews. “Although you could still have some, I’ll even chew it for you,” he says leaning forward bringing his still-chewing face closer to hers.

“Ew! No! Gross!” She shouts, jumping off of him and laughing. 

  
  


After their antics, they both laugh for a while, finish their drinks, and enjoy each other's company. “I’m actually sorry for taking the last piece,” Chat Noir admits, “I did it because it was funny.” 

“It was funny,” she responds with a giggle.

“Hang tight, I’ll get you one to-go,” he says with a smile, descending the tower before she can object. Moments later Chat returns to her with a fresh funnel cake on a plate.

“For you,” he says with a cheeky grin. 

“Thank you Chat,” Ladybug says, warmness filling her heart at her partner's actions. “_As nice as this is, I bet everyone is really starting to freak out by this point,_” she tells herself.

Before Ladybug can speak, Chat says, “well Ladybug as much as I would love to spend the rest of my night with you, I do have people likely looking for me.”

“This is goodnight then,” Ladybug responds in agreement.

“Goodnight my Lady,” Chat says, extending his baton in preparation to leave.

“One thing Chat,” Ladybug calls to him.

“Yes?” He turns back to her.

“I am the type of girl to go out to festivals,” she confesses, fiddling nervously with a pigtail, “but I also spend a lot of nights bumming around in pajamas when I can. I just... thought you'd like to know.” 

“Thank you Ladybug,” he nearly whispers before bounding off the Eiffel Tower.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing this chapter, please enjoy some wholesome Ladynoir! Sabre is sword in French and sounds cool in its own right, thought it was fitting for Adrien using the Dragon miraculous.
> 
> The miraculous need to have a glamour effect in my opinion or else these children are denser than lead.
> 
> I adore australet789's artwork, and [this piece](https://australet789.tumblr.com/post/186602095255/it-has-been-a-while-since-i-made-a-kwami-swap-here) is how I pictured Adrien with the Dragon miraculous. Be sure to check out her [Tumblr](https://australet789.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Rchavakiah8?lang=en/), she is amazing! 
> 
> As always, comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.


	5. Distracted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel speaks with his assistant over his recent defeat at the hands of Ladybug & Chat Noir.
> 
> Adrien returns to his friends to continue to enjoy the festival.

  


  


“Argh!” Hawkmoth growls, banging his fists on the large moth adorned window. He finds himself defeated again by Ladybug and Chat Noir, making him nowhere closer to his goal of securing their miraculous. 

“Sir?” Nathalie asks, walking up from behind him to place a hand on his shoulder.

“Nooroo, detransform me,” Hawkmoth mumbles, dark purple washing over him returning him to his civilian form. The light purple Kwami bursts from the light, silently floating next to his disgruntled master.

“Nathalie, this isn’t working,” Gabriel says, pressing his forehead to his curled fist still resting on the now-closed window.

“We will find a way Gabriel,” Nathalie reassures him, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

“This is impossible with that damn Guardian hiding in Paris,” Gabriel continues, “they have nearly limitless ways to defeat me with so many miraculous powers at their disposal.” Gabriel drops his fists from the window with a deep sigh.

“We have another miraculous Gabriel, I can help if I-” Nathalie starts.

“No,” Gabriel says sternly, shrugging her hand from his shoulder. “Nathalie, I can’t continue to risk your life by having you use the peacock miraculous,” he informs her, “I need you by my side.”

“Of course sir,” Nathalie responds, a slight blush brushed along her cheekbones.

“_She is the only thing keeping me sane currently,_” Gabriel thinks to himself, carefully watching his assistant as they leave his underground facility. The two of them walk onto the small elevator to be taken back up to Gabriel’s office. Nathalie enters first, and Gabriel steps in behind her, their bodies nearly flush to each other in the small space.

Gabriel watches Nathalie stand still in front of him, her tablet held against her chest. In the close proximity, he can’t help but smell her just under his nose in front of him. “_She smells like lavender and cedarwood...how nice,_” he considers as they exit into his office.

“Your perfume is lovely,” Gabriel finds himself saying as he walks over to his computer. Staring down at his screen he logs in, immediately regretting the words that seemed to come from his lips on their own.

“_Why did I say that?_” Gabriel scolds himself, trying to make himself look busy by opening his email to check his messages there.

“Oh, thank you sir,” Nathalie responds, nervously fiddling with the glasses on her face.

“What is the fragrance?” Gabriel inquires, pretending to write an email. 

“This is the new fragrance by Gucci that came out a few months ago,” Nathalie explains, “you instructed me to by myself a birthday gift from you, and this is what I selected.”

“Excellent choice,” Gabriel answers.

“_Nathalie is so patient with me, buying herself a gift from me. I should maybe personally pick something out for her for this upcoming Christmas,_” Gabriel considers. Thoughts of Christmas immediately remind him of why he is doing what he has been doing for nearly the last 3 years.

“_Emilie…_” Gabriel thinks, his fingers stopping their movements over the keys to turn and look at the depiction of his wife completed in the style of the famous Gustav Klimt. “_I need to stay focused on my goals,_” he tells himself, turning back to look at Nathalie noting something in her tablet. “_I can’t let myself get…. distracted._”

“What is the schedule for tomorrow Nathalie?” He asks his sharp-dressed assistant.

Nathalie swipes on her tablet and begins, “for Sunday you have meetings in the morning to finalize makeup and hair for the models in the London fashion show next week. After that, you are meeting with the representative for the shipping company responsible for getting Gabriel to the Asian markets. Then in the afternoon, I have you scheduled to continue work on the spring line.”

“And wasn’t there a meeting with Ms. Tsurugi as well?” Gabriel asks, looking down at his screen to keep his eyes from straying over to his assistant.

“There was a meeting scheduled, but the Tsurugi family had to travel back to Japan unexpectedly for a loss in the family,” Nathalie explains. Gabriel looks up at his assistant in slight surprise at this. “Don’t worry sir, you have already sent a gift,” Nathalie confirms with a soft smile.

His eyes connecting with hers, he finds himself smiling back at her. “_I don’t know what I would do without her,_” Gabriel thinks.

“Thank you, Nathalie,” he says softly.

“Of course sir. Due to your open schedule, I did inform Adrien you would be joining him for Sunday dinner, is that acceptable?” Nathalie asks a bit of nervousness in her voice.

“Yes, Nathalie, it has been too long since I’ve joined him for dinner,” Gabriel mumbles, looking down to his watch. “It’s quite late, you should be getting home,” he advises her.

“Of course sir, I will get the Gorilla to take me home,” she formally answers, powering off her tablet and slipping it into her bag. Gabriel watches as she retrieves her coat and pulls her bag over her shoulder ready to leave. As she begins to exit, a sinking feeling fills Gabriel’s chest.

“Wait,” he finds himself saying without thinking.

“Yes sir?” She asks, turning around from the doorway.

“Let me drive you home,” he finds himself saying.

“That’s not necessary sir,” Nathalie responds with a puzzled look on her face.

“I would like to,” he explains, powering off his computer and grabbing his own jacket.

With an amused look on her face, Nathalie says, “when was the last time you drove a car?”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Gabriel says defensively, passing Nathalie to exit his office with her following him. “_The last time I drove was when Emilie was still with us…_” his mind wanders. Gabriel shakes his head, heading to the carport connected to the mansion. 

Gabriel pulls out his keys, unlocking his silver car. He reaches over to the passenger door, opening it and gesturing for Nathalie to enter.

“Thank you,” his assistant nearly whispers, slipping into the passenger seat. Gabriel closes the door once she is completely in her seat.

“_She is the only person in my life right now who knows everything,_” Gabriel thinks as he walks over to the driver's side. “_It’s normal I would want to spend time with her,_” he convinces himself. Gabriel sits down in the driver's seat, turning the keys in the ignition and powering the car on.

The pair drive down the Paris streets, quiet in the residential areas away from the nightlife. Gabriel can’t help but sneak glances at his passenger who is silently sitting next to him, watching the Paris lights fly by the windows. Her hair pulled into her ever-present professional bun complete with her glasses and suit. The flash of red in her hair always made her stand out among her peers. Gabriel always appreciated she had her own style and was bold enough show it, if minimally, in a professional setting. 

“How long have you been dying your hair?” He asks, genuinely curious. 

“My hair?” She questions back, jumping a bit at the silence being broken. “I’ve been dying it since college. I liked it when I did it on a whim and so I incorporated it into my wardrobe, sir,” she explains. 

“You can drop the formalities, Nathalie,” Gabriel says as gently as possible, “consider yourself off the clock.”

“Of course si- Gabriel,” she corrects herself.

“I was hoping to get your advice on something,” Gabriel continues, “not as my assistant but as a friend.” 

“I would be happy to help,” Nathalie responds, sincerity dripping from her voice. 

“It’s about Adrien,” Gabriel begins, “I find it difficult to connect with him. I know a large part of it is likely because of what we are trying to accomplish.... among other things. I find myself keeping him at a distance.”

“Are you worried about dinner tomorrow?” Nathalie quietly asks, her face projecting understanding.

“I’m not worried per se, but being around him is tiresome for me. He is the spitting image of Emilie, and seeing her eyes on him only reminds me of the pain I feel every day at her absence,” Gabriel answers honestly, missing the turn he had to take moments ago. 

Nathalie says nothing at the missed turn, allowing him to continue on. “I wish I could tell him what we’ve been trying to accomplish, that I’m trying to bring our family back together. But I don’t know if he would understand so I minimize contact with him to ensure he won’t figure anything out,” Gabriel speaks these thoughts aloud for the first time.

“He will need to be informed eventually, once we succeed and Emilie returns,” Nathalie adds, studying the face of her boss which appears heavy with guilt. 

“I know,” Gabriel says, correcting his missed turn from earlier and going around the block. “But for now I just want to try to have a conversation with him,” he admits, sadness filling his eyes. “If Emilie saw how I was raising our son, she would be heartbroken,” he whispers, "he is all she ever wanted and I'm failing him."

Gabriel pulls up to the complex of flats Nathalie lives at, placing the car in park. Unlocking the doors, he prepares for her to exit the vehicle, but instead feels her hand on top of his which is gripped tightly on the steering wheel. 

“You have a wonderful son,” Nathalie says, looking to Gabriel from behind her glasses. “When Emilie comes back, she will see what an amazing young man he has grown up to be,” Nathalie reassures, a smile on her face.

Gabriel looks over to her, her usually stern and professional features softening significantly at his openness. He can’t help but feel his heartbeat pick up. It has been a long time since he has had any type of intimacy with anyone and sitting in the car with his assistant late at night felt extremely intimate to him. 

“Thank you, Nathalie,” Gabriel says, breaking the contact of her hand to bring his hand up to his mouth to clear his throat. “I think it would be helpful if you could join us for dinner tomorrow, are you available?” He asks her.

“I would be more than happy to,” she replies, popping her passenger door open. “Thank you for the ride Gabriel,” she says before exiting the car to walk up to the gates of her complex. Gabriel watches her until she enters her front door, before making his way back to the mansion. 

  
  


After watching Ladybug disappear through the crowd below, Chat heads the opposite way jumping down between buildings. In a darkened alley, he racks his brains for a half-decent excuse for his disappearance from the festival.

“_Where could I have gone?_” He considers. “_Oh! I could have gone back home to get my jacket!_” He concludes, extending his baton to head back to the mansion. Sticking to the shadows to ensure no one can track him back to his home he quickly approaches the Agreste estate. Right as he is about to leap through his window, his heart jumps as he hears a car driving through the large front gates. Taking a closer look with his night vision, he clearly makes out his father’s personal vehicle.

“_Who is driving back to the mansion this late at night?_” Chat ponders, watching the car pull into the carport. Moving with extreme care to not be spotted, Chat Noir moves to a better vantage point on a nearby rooftop. Pulling out his baton, he activates the video function pointing it to the car as it stops. Under the lights of the carport, Chat records the silver vehicle.

“_Father?_” Chat thinks to himself as he watches Gabriel exit the vehicle, securely locking it before heading inside. “_Father was out driving? This late at night? What was he doing?_” Chat continues to ponder, watching his father move inside the mansion until he is no longer visible from the windows. "_Father rarely leaves the house, and if he does he never drives himself..._" he continues to question.

As strange as the situation was, Chat knew his friends were likely frantically looking for him at this point. Confusion plaguing his face, Chat quickly dives into his bedroom, retrieves his jacket and hastily bounds back over to the festival. Transforming behind a dumpster, Adrien slides his jacket over his shoulders and runs back into the thinning crowd. Looking for his friends he arrives back near the pumpkin carving competition and spots Alya, Nino and Marinette speaking with a police officer.

“Hey guys!” He calls to them, quickening his step to approach his friends.

“Dude!” Nino shouts, meeting him halfway to pull him into a hug. “Where the hell were you?”

Adrien looks over Nino’s shoulder and sees Alya dismissing the officer, who leaves with a scribble in her notepad and a nod.

“When the Akuma attack started I ran away, and I ended up nearly half-way home so I decided to grab my jacket before heading back here,” Adrien lies. 

“You could’ve at least answered your damn phone Agreste, you had us all worried,” Alya retorts, walking forward to join the conversation with Marinette on her heels. 

Adrien reaches into his pocket, pulling out his phone and swiping to unlock it. The brightly lit screen screams at him the countless missed calls and texts it contains.

“Sorry guys, I must have totally spaced…” Adrien responds, unable to come up with a better excuse on the spot. 

“That’s okay Adrien, we’re just happy to see that you’re okay,” Marinette chimes in holding a plate of a mostly eaten funnel cake to him. “Want some funnel cake?” She asks with a shy smile on her face. 

“Thank you Mari,” he says, reaching over to rip a piece off of the fried dessert.

“So you missed it dude, after everything settled from the Akuma attack they announced the winners of the pumpkin carving competition,” Nino explains.

“Oh yeah?” Adrien says, his mouth still partially filled with funnel cake.

“Yeah! Nathaniel was happy to come in silver and the cauldron artist actually got awarded the gold!” Nino excitedly exclaims.

“How? I thought those kids destroyed his carving?” Adrien asks, playing dumb.

“It looks like Ladybug’s power fixed the smashed carving,” Alya says pulling her phone out, “oh and I got pictures of a new superhero calling himself Sabre, look!”

Alya turns her phone around for Adrien to look at himself clad in the magic of the Dragon miraculous. “_Damn, and I thought black was my color, I look pretty good in red too,_” he thinks to himself.

“He looks pretty cool,” Adrien responds, “Ladybug sure likes to team up with blonde boys doesn’t she?”

“Maybe she has a type dude,” Nino says, elbowing Adrien in the side, sharing a chuckle between them.

“Hey we don’t even know that any of the superheroes are actually blonde, except for Queen Bee,” Marinette says, a bit red in the face. “With their magic costumes, I’m sure they can make their hair color anything they want it to be!” She responds defensively.

“Hey girl look at you, building up your superhero knowledge,” Alya says, slinging an arm around her shoulders, “and you always told me you weren’t into all this stuff.” 

“Well, you know, as a designer I happen to notice these types of things, costumes, hair, make-up, you know…” she trails off. 

“Alright, alright we’ll give Ladybug a break… for now,” Adrien says with a smirk. “But if there is another blonde boy by her side, we all reserve the right to make assumptions,” he says.

“Bro, you are just hoping she has a thing for blondes,” Nino retorts with a chuckle. 

“No comment,” Adrien chokes out, growing red in the face at Nino’s implication. “Anyway, now what do we do? It seems like the festival is still ongoing,” Adrien says, looking to now change the topic of the conversation. 

“Why don’t we check out some of the festival activities?” Alya suggests.

“Oh, Nathaniel said he and Marc were going to spend some time at the fortune-teller stand,” Marinette adds, “why don’t we see if they are still there?”

“Ugh, I don’t believe in all that hokey pokey palm reading nonsense,” Nino says with an exaggerated eye roll. 

“No one does honey, but it’s about the fun,” Alya encourages, “it doesn’t hurt to indulge in it for the laughs.”

“Then it’s agreed, let’s go check it out!” Adrien says, walking confidently forward.

“Uh, Adrien?” Alya quickly says, “the fortune-teller stand is that way,” she points in the opposite direction.

“Why don’t you lead the way?” He awkwardly chuckles.

With a smile and slight eye roll, Alya takes Nino by the hand and the couple begins to walk over to the area of the festival where the fortune-teller resides. Adrien is left again walking side by side with Marinette who is finishing up the funnel cake and looking for somewhere to dispose of the paper plate it was sitting on. From his higher vantage point, Adrien can see a trash can coming up down the row of tents they are passing.

“Fancy a bet?” He asks, looking down at the petite girl.

“A bet?” She looks up to him, slightly confused.

“Yes, a bet. If you can frisbee that plate into the upcoming trash can, I’ll pay for your fortune,” Adrien says with a cheeky grin.

“Okay, and if I miss?” Marinette asks, a confident smirk on her face.

“Hmmm…” he thinks, looking over the bluenette, still clad in her amazing handmade Chat Noir jacket. “Oh, I got it!” He exclaims, “if you miss, you are going to make me a Ladybug jacket, which I will totally pay you for, materials and labor,” he tacks on the last part with a laugh, “I’m not a monster.” 

“Deal,” Marinette says with a smile, examining the plate in her hand, slightly damp in spots from oil. “Prepare to lose Adrien,” she says with confidence, fiercely eyeing the trash can.

Adrien watches as she pulls her arm back and then whips the paper plate forward with more force than Adrien ever expected. To his surprise, the plate flies true in a straight line, through the opening of the trashcan, clunking on the back of the lid and falling perfectly in the bin. 

As they continue walking, Adrien looks at the trashcan, and then back at Marinette and then back at the trashcan. “H-how did you do that so perfectly?” He stutters in amazement. 

“Beginner’s luck?” Marinette suggests with a wink. “Looks like we’re here!” She adds as Adrien turns his attention forward to watch Nino and Alya duck through the fabric opening of the fortune teller's tent.

Adrien looks over the decorated tent, with purple and magenta fabric draped over the interior. In lieu of the fire hazard real candles provide, the tent is littered with battery operated candles. The area they are in has large bean bags and pillows and appears to be a waiting area of sorts. There is a large curtain in front of them which is currently drawn closed. After a few moments of looking at each other in confusion, a young man appears from behind the curtain. 

Adrien tries to restrain a giggle when he sees the man. He is dressed in a comical pink and purple suit to match the tent, complete with a top hat and an obviously fake mustache. 

“Greetings travelers,” the man says looking over the four of them. “Please, make yourselves comfortable as Madame Rune finishes with her current clients.” 

“Thanks dude,” Nino responds, plopping down into one of the beanbag chairs, Alya following closely behind him. Adrien follows their lead, relaxing into the soft pillows decorating the tent. Marinette follows suit, sitting down. 

The four teens chat while waiting for the fortune teller to become available. They discuss a variety of topics until eventually Nathaniel and Marc appear through the curtain, the young men hands firmly clasped together.

“Oh hey everyone!” Nathaniel says, his silver medal still hanging around his neck.

Everyone waves and greets the young couple. “Congratulations on the silver Nathaniel,” Adrien adds.

“If you ask me, he deserved first place,” Marc says, giving Nathaniel’s hand a squeeze.

“Stop it Marc, you say that about everything I do,” Nathaniel retorts, a blush painting his pale face. 

“You are extremely talented Nath,” Alya adds, getting up from the entrapment of the beanbags. “So, learn anything interesting from Madame Rune?” She asks. 

The couple looks at each other and giggles, exchanging knowing looks. “Let’s just say we learned a lot about our future,” Nathaniel responds looking at Marc.

“She encouraged us to get in touch with a publisher about our comics, she predicted they will be wildly successful,” Marc adds.

“Something is telling me that’s not all she told you,” Marinette says with a smile.

The boys blush and laugh again, not willing to share more about their fortune. 

“Which of the lovely couples will be next to speak with Madame Rune?” The top-hatted man asks, looking over the group.

“Us next!” Alya says excitedly, already standing. “Let’s go Nino,” she continues, dragging Nino from the comfort of the beanbags. She hands some euros to the exuberant man before diving through the curtain. 

Adrien looks at Marinette with a shrug, and she responds with a giggle. Adrien looks back at Nathaniel and Marc, who are watching him and Marinette with a knowing look on their faces which he tries to ignore. 

“So what are you going to ask the fortune teller Mari?” Adrien asks his friend.

“Hmmm,” the bluenette thinks, bringing a finger to her chin. “I really don’t know, I’ve never done anything like this before.” 

“That’s okay,” Nathaniel chimes in, “we also had no idea what to ask her, but she helped to guide us.” 

“Oh good,” Marinette says looking back at Adrien, “I’ll guess I’ll just see what she has in store for me!” 

“Yeah I think I’ll do that too,” Adrien says with a smile. While waiting for Alya and Nino’s session to conclude, the four teens again fall into a comfortable conversation. They discuss the comics Marc and Nathaniel are working on and the possibility of getting in touch with a publisher. The boys ask Marinette about her design work and inquire about what she is currently working on. Adrien can’t help but notice how happy together Marc and Nathaniel seem to be. 

“_I hope one day I can experience something like what they have,_” he thinks as Nathaniel lifts their held hands to his lips, giving the back of Marc’s hand a kiss. “_I wonder if my parents were ever this happy together,_” he continues to think as the boys chat with Marinette about their respective arts. 

After a good bit of time, Alya and Nino appear from behind the curtain of the fortune teller’s tent, looking just as giddy as the previous couple did.

“How did it go?” Adrien asks the couple. 

“Dude, it was pretty cool in there, not gonna lie,” Nino says.

“Yeah, the special effects budget is way higher than I expected!” Alya says, her voice filled with excitement.

“Now I’m getting excited,” Adrien says, looking over to Marinette who nods in agreement.

“Are you two now ready to learn your futures?” The attendant asks Marinette and Adrien.

“Oh,” Marinette responds, looking between Adrien and the attendant, “oh we aren’t together,” she finishes, blushing furiously.

“Yeah we’re just friends,” Adrien insists, waving his hands defensively. Adrien can hear his friends giggling around them, but tries desperately to ignore them.

“Is that so?” The attendant asks, cocking his head to the side in confusion. “In that case, ladies first,” he continues, pulling the curtain to the side and gesturing for Marinette to enter. Adrien hops up out of his beanbag to hand the attendant some euros for Marinette. This act only seems to confuse the man more.

“I… lost a bet,” Adrien explains as Marinette giggles, ducking through the fabric opening. 

Adrien turns back to his friends, and the couples seem to be excitedly sharing their mutual experiences with Madame Rune. He listens as Alya animatedly explains how the fortune teller said she will soon uncover a huge story with her journalistic abilities. Nino seems quite exhilarated himself, going over how the fortune teller predicted he will soon book a big gig DJing.

“I thought you didn’t believe in all this?” Adrien smirks, gesturing to all the decorations in the room.

“I’m more than happy to believe good news dude,” Nino says, throwing a pillow into his face. The blonde counters by throwing a pillow back and soon the teens are in an all-out war in the waiting room, pillows flying back and forth from all parties. After a few moments of this, the attendant appears again through the curtains.

“Please, keep the tomfoolery to a minimum, you are disrupting the Madame,” he scolds the teens seriously.

“Sorry,” Marc squeaks out, and the teens go back to sitting nicely in the waiting room. After a short time, Marinette appears from behind the curtain. Adrien immediately notices she seems more pale than usual.

“Mari, are you okay?” Adrien asks, concerned for his friend.

“Y-yes! Never better!” Marinette responds with a shaky thumbs up, before taking a seat on the beanbags next to Alya.

“Are you ready young man?” The attendant eyes him, opening the curtain for him to enter.

“I suppose so,” Adrien says, handing the man the entrance fee. Eyeing Marinette one last time, Adrien ducks into Madame Rune’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience, it has taken me longer than I wanted to get a new chapter of this fic out. Hindsight 20/20, I never should have started this fic while _Heat Rising_ was still ongoing, but c'est la vie. I know this fic isn't as popular as my others, but I am still dedicated to finishing this story, I have big plans in mind for it- so I hope you are enjoying it. 
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and to share this fic if you think it is worth sharing! I would appreciate it.


	6. The Wheel of Fortune

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien recieves his fortune from Madame Rune and the teens wrap up their jam packed day.

  
  


“Hello young man,” a woman’s voice greets him as he enters the tent. Adrien turns behind him to see if the flamboyant attendant is following him, but he mysteriously seems to disappear within the hanging fabrics. Looking around the room, Adrien takes a seat in a chair across from a woman draped in silky robes, her face mostly obscured. A cascade of auburn curls pokes out from either side of her hood. A soft smile graces the woman’s red-painted lips. In front of them is a large table, covered in all sorts of bits and bobbles.

“Hello,” Adrien greets her kindly, his eyes looking over the well-decorated room. _“Alya was right, they really did go all out on the atmosphere,”_ the blonde considers. The fabrics in the room are draped beautifully, accented by the fake candles, large vases and various chests and mysterious looking containers. 

“How can Madame Rune help you today?” The woman asks, eyeing Adrien from beneath her hood.

“Ah-aha,” Adrien laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not quite sure, I’ve never done something like this before.” 

“Ah, I see,” the cloaked woman grins, her red glossed lips spreading cheerily. “How about we start with a reading of some tarot cards? That can give us a baseline for discussion,” the woman suggests while shuffling the occult cards with flair.

“Sure,” Adrien agrees. He watches the fortune-teller finish her shuffling performance before placing several cards face down in front of him. 

“We will start with this card,” the woman explains gesturing to one of the face-down cards, “this is your Major Arcana and will give us the baseline of your tarot reading.” The woman reaches down with her long red painted nails and flips the first card. “Hmm, well isn’t that something,” she mutters under her breath.

“What is it?” Adrien asks, looking at what seems to be to him an artistic depiction of a wheel of some kind.

“It is the Wheel of Fortune, but it is reversed.” Madame Rune explains, “It appears your life has been defined by having little control of your situation. The reversed Wheel of Fortune can also indicate that your life has been plagued by bad luck.” Under the table, Adrien unconsciously reaches over to his ring at the mention of bad luck. He can feel Plagg shift in his jacket pocket at the mention of it as well. “It appears you are living a life where you are not in control, someone else makes decisions for you. On top of that, there seems to be an air of destruction or misfortune following you.”

“I guess that sounds about right,” he awkwardly laughs as the woman seems to be thinking seriously. 

“Next we will see what the cards reveal about your past,” the woman explains, reaching over to flip another card. This card reveals another interesting depiction, this time being a pretty woman with a crown sitting on a throne.

“Hmmm, the Empress.” Madame Rune contemplates. “It appears your past was filled with maternal love, deep care from your mother, is that correct?” She asks.

“Yeah, uh, that’s right,” Adrien quietly responds, looking down at the Empress card. _“Damn, this lady is either good at this or lucky. I’m not sure which,”_ Adrien thinks. 

“A mother’s love is eternal, but the cards seem to indicate it was stronger and more present in the past. Is your mother traveling far away? Unable to keep in touch as much as she used to be?” Madame Rune speculates.

“Something like that…” Adrien mutters. 

“Considering your reversed Wheel of Fortune, it appears your lack of contact with your mother is something out of your control. This implies it is in the control of someone else, whether it be her or another party. Of course, this entire situation seems to be covered in a blanket of misfortune.” the woman explains.

Upon finishing her reading of the past card, Madame Rune looks at the clearly saddened boy. Adrien sits there, staring at the card but not responding to anything she said. 

Madame Rune clears her throat and moves forward with the reading. “Now we will take a look at your present,” she says, reaching over to flip the next card. “Mmm, the High Priestess, but it is reversed,” the woman states as she reaches up to touch her chin contemplatively. Adrien looks over to her, the long hood over her head makes it difficult to read her reactions, but he can see a distinct frown pull down on the corners of her mouth.

“Is it a bad one?” Adrien asks, the energy in the room growing even more somber.

“It depends,” Madame Rune deflects, bringing her hand off her chin to run her fingers over the card. “When the High Priestess is reversed, it usually indicates information previously hidden from you is bound to come to light soon. It is difficult to tell exactly when you will be exposed to this information. Typically, this card represents the information revealed will incriminate someone you thought was above reproach. This someone is usually someone you trust and respect highly: a mentor, a friend, a parent,” the fortune-teller interprets. 

Adrien swallows thickly as he listens to Madame Rune’s fortune. His heart rate begins to pick up and he can feel a fresh bead of sweat start to form at the base of his neck. 

“Once again, considering your Major Arcana, it appears the person this information will be about is likely the same person who exerts control over your life,” Madame Rune speculates, watching him carefully from the darkness of her hood.

Adrien is overwhelmed. _“There is no way any of this can be real,”_ Adrien thinks, staring down at the eerily accurate and relevant cards, his eyes growing dry as he forgets to blink. He tries to swallow but his mouth feels like it is filled with cotton. _“This all must be some kind of trick,”_ Adrien concludes, his discomfort rapidly coming to a peak.

“Y-you know this has been great, but I’m really getting kinda hot in here,” Adrien stutters, quickly sitting up from his chair and pulling out his shirt to fan himself off. He can feel Plagg protectively stir in his jacket as his discomfort and anxiety rises. The fortune-teller watches Adrien from across the decorated table as he backs farther away from her.

“Are you sure? Don’t you want to know what the cards have to say about your future?” The fortune-teller insists while reaching down to flip the last card.

“No, no, I’m actually good, thank you though!” Adrien quickly stammers, glancing over his shoulder like a trapped animal searching for an exit. He spots the waiting area peeking through the carefully draped fabric doors he had previously entered through. The same fabric doors he is starting to regret ever entering.

He hurriedly dives out of the reading room, leaving a pair of sheer curtains swaying in his wake. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Adrien, his curious black cat Kwami peeks out from his jacket pocket, watching as the hooded woman brings her hand toward the last unturned card on the table.

Madame Rune flips the remaining card, revealing an upright Death card. 

  
  


“Come on Mari, you gotta tell us something about your fortune,” Nino pries while they wait for Adrien to finish his session with Madame Rune. Nino has been working Marinette over since Adrien walked in for his fortune, to no avail. 

“Nope, not sharing, no way,” Marinette says, defensively shaking her head back and forth.

“Marinette! It can’t be that bad,” Alya insists.

Marinette sits there thinking over what Madame Rune told her. _“It wasn’t that the reading was bad, it was just strangely relevant to my life as Ladybug.”_ The bluenette breathes in a deep sigh before shoving her hands into her jacket pocket to feel a reassuring buzz from Tikki. 

“Fine.” Marinette huffs and looks over the group.

“You don’t need to share if you don’t want to,” Nathaniel adds quietly.

“Yeah I think it’s totally fine to want to keep it to yourself,” Marc adds, smiling gently at Marinette.

“No! She was gonna tell us!” Nino whines while dramatically falling back into his beanbag chair. The four teens share a laugh that is broken by Adrien nearly running out of the back of the fortune-teller's tent.

On his hasty exit, Adrien bumps into a small table, knocking the battery-operated candles off and onto the edge of a rug. Marinette immediately notices he seems distraught. “Sorry,” Adrien utters before hastily picking up the candles to place them back onto the table.

“I guess that’s why they don’t have real candles in here,” Alya states while eyeing her frazzled friend. 

“You alright dude?” Nino asks, getting out of his seat to approach Adrien.

“Y-yeah,” Adrien replies as he reaches down to straighten out his jacket. Marinette can tell just by looking at him he is extremely uncomfortable. “_Maybe he had a fortune that made him uneasy too,_” she considers.

“Why don’t we head out of here?” Marinette suggests before getting up from her seat and zipping up her jacket. 

“I’d like that,” Adrien admits. The six teens exit the tent back into the brisk fall air. Marinette keeps an eye on her crush, and she sees him immediately relax once he is out of the tent, exhaling a breath into the cold air. 

“That was eventful,” Nathaniel remarks. “We’d love to stick around but Marc and I have a date with blankets, snacks and scary movies tonight. I think we will head out.” 

“Please wish me luck,” Marc quietly adds, “scary movies ruin me.” The black-haired boy nervously wrings his hands.

“I’ll take care of you.” The red-head says as he comforts Marc with a kiss on the head.

Marc and Nathaniel say their goodbyes to the group as they depart for Marc’s place, leaving the original four at the fair.

Nino pulls out his phone, lighting it up to check the time. “It’s getting kinda late,” he informs the group as he pulls his hat off to lightly scratch his head. 

“Should we also call it a night?” Alya asks the group. Marinette immediately feels her heart sink at the prospect of the night ending. 

_“Spending all this time with Adrien and everyone has been so much fun. I hope we can do this again soon,”_ she thinks, a small pout forming on her lips, _“but it is probably time to call it a night.”_

“We probably should,” Marinette begrudgingly agrees.

“Yeah,” Adrien chimes in, “I should probably be getting home.” The teens stand there for a couple moments in awkward silence, no one making the move to walk to their respective houses.

“I’m gonna walk Alya home,” Nino says as he slips his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders. “Will you dudes make it home okay?” He inquires, looking over at Marinette and Adrien.

“Of course!” Marinette responds. “I’ll walk Adrien home.”

“Isn’t your house closer Marinette?” Adrien asks, confusion on his face. 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t be a gentleman,” Marinette says with a smirk and her best attempt at a Chat Noir signature bow. The four teens share a laugh at the back and forth. Marinette looks up at Adrien to see his face lightly dusted in pink, his previously anxious expression replaced with a genuine smile. _“There’s that smile again.”_ Marinette thinks to herself, straightening up from her bow.

“Oh, before everyone leaves, let’s take a picture together!” Alya says as she whips out her phone.

“Okay but nothing on social media,” Adrien requests, “father keeps on eye on that stuff.”

“Oh, okay, no social media, got it,” Alya responds firmly. Alya drags her friends together tightly so everyone can fit into the frame of the selfie. Nino is on the left side, with his right arm slung around Alya’s shoulders. Adrien is next to Alya with Marinette at the other end of the frame.

“Marinette you need to come in closer to get in the picture!” Alya tells her best friend with a wink.

Marinette is already squeezed as close to Adrien as she can, nervous at their proximity. Her heart is beating faster but she swears it stops when she feels an arm reach around her shoulders, pulling her closer into the picture .

“This okay?” She hears him softly whisper into her ear as his hand firmly holds her shoulder, leaning her into him.

“Y-yup!” Marinette stutters, the blush on her face growing even further. _“Hopefully in the picture, it will just look like I’m cold,”_ she prays. 

With Marinette now in the frame, Alya snaps a few pictures before releasing the group. “I’ll send everyone a copy since we can’t post it online,” she says while typing out on her phone to send the picture off to the teens.

“Thanks, Alya!” Adrien says in earnest, his arm still easily slung around Marinette’s shoulders. “Well, my brave knight Marinette is going to escort me home now, right?” He laughs and uses his arm around her shoulders to give her a playful squeeze.

Still recovering from his warm closeness and angelic laugh in her ear, she doesn’t respond right away. After taking a few seconds to recover, Marinette realizes she should be responding and says, “yes!”

Adrien laughs again and drops his arm from around her shoulders. Everyone says goodbye, Marinette going over to give Alya and Nino hugs before they head in the opposite direction. Adrien gives them hugs as well before branching off in the direction both his and Marinette’s houses are. 

_“Alright Marinette, you and Adrien, alone, walking at night on the streets of Paris. You can do this, just stay cool,”_ she internally motivates herself.

“You know I’m not going to let you walk me all the way home, right?” Adrien says with a smug look, his green eyes looking down at her.

“Why not?” Marinette asks with a false offense in her voice. 

“It’s ridiculous, _utterly ridiculous._” Adrien mocks in his best Chloe voice. 

“Okay, that was scarily accurate,” Marinette replies with a laugh.

“I’ve known Chloe pretty much all my life,” Adrien says chucking as well, “I’ve probably heard her say that over a thousand times.”

“I’m sure.” She acknowledges with a smile and looks up at Adrien. “She’s changed a lot over the last couple of years.” Marinette states, looking at the blonde to gauge his reaction. 

Adrien’s features soften and he warmly smiles saying, “She really has. I’m proud of her. Her mom didn’t set the best example for her growing up… so I think she needed a better example in order to change.” The pair continue to walk down the quiet Paris streets side by side. “I think you’re a big part of her change Marinette,” Adrien adds.

“Me? What?” Marinette nearly scoffs. “Chloe and I are always butting heads, I don’t think I’ve helped at all,” she argues.

“You’re always giving her a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance,” Adrien explains as he counts on his fingers to emphasize his point. “I think your kindness and patience have been rubbing off on her.” 

“I always thought it was Ladybug that was helping her become a better person,” Marinette disputes.

Adrien places his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “I’m sure Ladybug has helped, but how often is Chloe interacting with Ladybug? You’re more consistent in her life, ya know?” He argues. “Not saying that Ladybug doesn’t help, she’s amazing. She helps everyone she comes across, so selfless, brave and be-” Adrien cuts himself off with a cough. “Beastly! Have you seen her fight? Pow!” Adrien pulls his hands out of his jacket, punching forward comically. 

Marinette watches Adrien talk about her alter-ego, his words warming her up in the cold fall air. _“The cold must be getting to Adrien, his cheeks are getting pink,”_ she considers. 

After a few more minutes of conversation, the pair arrive outside the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. “Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you to your place?” Marinette asks again. 

“I’m sure, it’s just a couple more blocks,” Adrien replies, “plus I could never allow you to walk back by yourself.” 

“But you’ll be walking alone!” Marinette protests.

“Yeah but at least I’m not tiny,” he jokes, standing up straight to emphasize their height differences.

Marinette lifts her chin to make eye contact with him. _“He’s gotten even taller over the last couple of years,”_ she thinks, _“he must be as tall as his dad by now.”_

“Okay,” she concedes, despite knowing as Ladybug she could get home no problem. “Just text me when you get home?” She requests.

“Of course,” Adrien says before opening his arms for a hug. Marinette happily reciprocates, laying the side of her head against Adrien’s chest. The hug lingers for a moment and she can hear Adrien’s strong and steady heartbeat.

“Thank you for everything today Marinette,” Adrien quietly says, before pulling back from the hug. “You and everyone were exactly the friends I needed today,” the blonde sincerely remarks.

_“Friends.”_ Marinette’s mind immediately notes his choice of words. “Anytime, seriously Adrien,” she smiles, “see you soon.”

“Yes, soon, I’d like that.” Adrien smiles in response, giving one last wave before turning to walk to his father’s estate. Marinette unlocks the bakery and watches him walk down the street through the window. He strolls with ease down the partially lit street, hands in his pockets to avoid the cold. After a couple of minutes, he disappears from her view into the darkness.

Marinette steps away from the window and carefully walks up the stairs to her room. _“I love that boy,”_ she can’t help but think. 

  
  


Adrien ambles down the street after dropping off Marinette, his hands snugly in his jacket pockets. Plagg rests, comfortable and warm, in his right hand. After walking part of the way home, he dips into an alley, calling to his black Kwami to transform him. As Chat Noir, he quickly bounds over rooftops towards the Agreste mansion. Before entering his window, he does a quick scouting of the perimeter to see if there is any more strange activity happening. Confident that all seems well, Chat slips into his bedroom through the window. Once inside the mansion, a chill runs down his spine that isn’t caused by the cold fall air. He can’t help but think about Madame Rune’s readings today. Dropping his transformation, he goes over to a cabinet to fetch Plagg some fresh camembert. 

“What a day,” Adrien breathes out as he hands Plagg some of his treasured cheese.

“You can say that again,” Plagg says between bites as he immediately begins to chow down.

Hanging his jacket up once again, Adrien changes out of his day clothes into his red pajama pants. “I should give it another few minutes before texting Marinette, I don’t want her to think I got home too fast,” he states, looking at Plagg who agrees with a nod. 

Adrien walks over to the bathroom and brushes his teeth. He quickly washes his face in the sink and examines the stubble coming in on his chin. “_I should probably shave tomorrow morning,_” he considers. After enough time has passed, Adrien unlocks his phone and sends Marinette a message.

  
  


**Adrien:** Made it home, thanks again for everything today. 

  
  


After finishing his nighttime routine, Adrien climbs under the soft covers on his large bed. Within a few seconds of sending the text to Marinette, he receives a reply.

  
  


**Marinette:** Glad you made it home safe! Feel free to text me if you need anything, or just want to talk.

  
  


Adrien looks down at his phone with a smile. Knowing he needs to get to sleep, he locks his phone and plugs it in to charge for the night. “I think today went well,” Adrien expresses as he tries to relax in bed. Plagg finishes half a wheel of camembert before floating over to lay next to his chosen on the adjacent pillow.

“Don’t worry about that mystic lady kid.” Plagg says, sensing the anxiety radiating off Adrien. “Trust me, I’ve seen tons of fake clairvoyants in my time,” he continues, “they’re almost all fakes.” 

“Almost all?” Adrien asks, turning onto his side to look at Plagg.

“There are all sorts of weird magic in the world, some of it miraculous driven, some of it not, most of it you will never see or even learn about.” Plagg explains, “I doubt that lady had any real power, she was simply flipping cards and then trying to read your reactions to what she was saying.”

“Probably,” Adrien affirms, laying on his back again and staring up at the ceiling, “it was just making me really uncomfortable, especially that card about information coming to light that will incriminate someone I respect.”

“Pssh, that could mean anything,” Plagg deflects, “maybe Ladybug secretly hates cats or something.” 

“She could never.” Adrien grins, thinking back to the time he got to spend with Ladybug tonight. “Thanks, Plagg. You’re right, she probably says things that anyone could grab onto and apply to their lives.” 

“No problem kid,” Plagg responds, curling into a ball on the plush pillow. The two lay in silence for several minutes and Adrien closes his eyes, attempting to fall asleep. Despite his exhaustion from the day, his mind is still active and focused on his father.

“What do you think father was doing driving around tonight?” Adrien whispers, breaking the silence.

“Who knows,” Plagg responds, sleepiness apparent in his voice.

“And we’re having dinner tomorrow,” Adrien says to his half-asleep Kwami, “I don’t know if I should ask questions or just let it go normally.”

Plagg lets out a big yawn and then readjusts himself on his pillow. “I would play it by ear kid, feel him out, ya know?” The Kwami says.

“Yeah,” Adrien replies, rolling onto his stomach to try to get comfortable, “it’s just weird Plagg, my relationship with father has always been strained but I never felt unsafe around him... until now,” the blonde mutters into his pillow. 

“Adrien,” Plagg responds, getting up to fly over to his chosen’s pillow, “we will make sure he can’t hurt you; I’ll take down this whole mansion if I have to.” 

“Thanks, Plagg,” Adrien whispers.

“Time to get your beauty rest blondie,” Plagg whispers back, “goodnight kid.”

“Goodnight, Plagg,” Adrien replies. With Plagg cuddled up next to his forehead, he focuses on the Kwami’s soft purring, eventually drifting off to sleep.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to [ Yangire Senpai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YangireSenpai/pseuds/YangireSenpai) & [ Casper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Casperg67/pseuds/Casperg67) for beta reading this chapter! Your feedback was **amazing** and so greatly appreciated.
> 
> My knowledge of tarot cards is limited, so I am sorry if I completely butchered how they work. Let me know in the comments if you have feedback on the tarot reading or any other thoughts! I really enjoy reading each and every comment :)


	7. Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette enjoys breakfast with her parents. Adrien attends Sunday dinner with his father and Nathalie.

  
  


Marinette woke up Sunday morning to enjoy breakfast with both of her parents. The bakery is closed Sundays, and their little family always enjoyed this quiet time to spend together, just the three of them.

“Did you enjoy your night out honey?” Tom asks his daughter as he finishes setting the table for breakfast.

“Yes, papa! We had a fun time,” she responds, reaching for a piece of toast and the raspberry jam.

“We saw that Akuma attack on the news honey,” Sabine presses, “I know you’ve been around a lot of those, are you doing okay?”

“Mama I’m fine!” Marinette insists, spreading the pink jam over her toast. “Ladybug and Chat Noir are always there to save the day,” she explains before popping the toast between her lips.

“I understand dear but your mother is right,” Tom replies as he takes a seat. “I know there are now counselors and therapists specializing in akuma anxiety and the like, if you ever want to discuss going to something like that…” the large caring man trails off.

“Oh, you guys!” Marinette exclaims, reaching over to touch each of their hands. “You are both too good of parents, seriously,” the bluenette says before sitting back again and taking another bite of toast.

“Just know you can come to us with anything,” Sabine says with a kind smile before taking a sip from her teacup.

“_There’s so much I wish I could tell both of you_,” Marinette thinks as she takes a sip from her own tea. “_This tea really reminds me of the tea Master Fu serves me!_” She considers as she takes another sip.

“Actually there was something on my mind I would like to chat with you guys about,” Marinette explains.

“Of course honey, we’re all ears,” her father responds.

“Well you know Adrien and I are pretty good friends now,” Marinette says, watching her parents exchange a knowing look. “And well, I was wondering what you guys think happened to his mom?”

Marinette watches her parents' reaction, and just when their eyes went back to her, they snapped back to each other again in surprise. They seem to communicate in that way very close couples do, before Tom speaks first.

“Well Marinette, Emilie Agreste disappeared a couple of years ago,” Tom explains.

“It will be 3 years this Christmas,” Sabine adds.

“Yes, 3 years this Christmas,” Tom agrees, a hint of sadness in his voice.

“But what happened to her?” Marinette asks, puzzled by her parents' reaction.

“No one quite knows honey,” Sabine says gently.

“But adults talk maman, people obviously think something happened,” Marinette retorts, pressing her parents further.

“Well…” Sabine reluctantly starts, “your father and I always believed something happened to her at the party.”

“Oh, the Bourgeois Christmas Eve party?” Marinette questions.

“_I remember reading about that online,_” the bluenette recalls. 

“Yes, your mother and I were catering that party nearly 3 years ago,” Tom explains.

“Wait,” Marinette pauses, “you guys were at the party where Emilie Agreste was last seen?!”

“Well, yes honey but there were a lot of people there,” Sabine explains, “we were never one for engaging in the rumor mill so we spoke to the police about what we saw and left it at that.” 

“What did you see?” Marinette asks, concern accenting her tone.

“It was a normal Bourgeois party honey,” Tom begins, “the only thing that stood out to us was when Mrs. Agreste nearly fell over onto our Christmas-themed stand of cupcakes.” 

“Yes if your father wasn’t there she would have ended up covered in all sorts of green and red frosting!” Sabine adds, a sad smile on her face. 

“Did she trip? What happened?” Marinette presses.

“No it was more like fainting,” Tom says seriously, “she was very pale and I could see her fading, so I came around and caught her before she fell into the display.”

“We took her behind our stand, sat her down and got her some water,” Sabine continues, “the poor woman seemed so out of it.”

“Then what happened?” Marinette asks.

“She came around, thanked us for taking care of her, and insisted she likely had too much wine to drink,” Tom explains.

“Your father and I asked her if she was sure she was okay, we asked if there was any chance someone slipped something into her drink or if she wanted us to call her a cab, but she was very insistent that she was fine,” Sabine says sadly. 

“We wish we would have done more, considering she was never seen again after that party,” Tom adds remorsefully. 

“Wow, I had no idea,” Marinette nearly whispers.

“So to answer your question Marinette,” Sabine begins, “your father and I always believed someone targeted her at the party. I think her drink was possibly tampered with.”

“We don’t want to scare you honey, but there are bad people out there,” Tom gently remarks, “that’s why we always tell you when you’re at big gatherings to keep an eye on your drink. Don’t accept drinks you didn’t see prepared yourself. You never know who has bad intentions.”

“I know papa,” the bluenette acknowledges. 

“_I wonder if Adrien knows about this_,” Marinette considers, “_I’ll need to find a way to tell him about all this without upsetting him too much._” 

“I do feel horribly for your friend Adrien,” Sabine says. “And Gabriel has hardly left his estate since his wife’s disappearance.”

“Yeah…” Marinette agrees, taking another bite of her toast.

“Hopefully one day we will know what happened to that nice woman,” Tom finishes his toast, wiping some crumbs from his mustache. 

The family continues their peaceful breakfast, moving easily onto less heavy conversations. Despite the warmth surrounding her, Marinette can’t help but feel guilty at the scene in front of her.

“_This is something so simple I take for granted,_” she thinks as she watches her parents play fight over the last croissant. “_I can’t imagine waking up one day and this all being gone,” she considers._

__

__

Adrien awakens Sunday morning to the morning light filtering through the large windows in his bedroom. He lays in bed for a few minutes, allowing his eyes and his brain to become accommodated to wakefulness. He absentmindedly scrolls through his phone, smiling softly at the messages waiting for him from his friends.

  
  


**Nino:** Hey dude, just wanted to check in with you this mornin. Hit me up if you need anything.

**Chloe:** Adrikins! Between my facial and mani-pedi, I’m here if you wanna text.

**Marinette:** Good morning Adrien! I hope you slept well, let me know if you need anything.

  
  


Adrien replies, thanking Nino, Chloe, and Marinette for checking in on him. Weary from another night of restless sleep, the blonde slowly rises from bed, standing up to lift his arms to stretch.

“Morning Adrien,” Plagg greets him, stretching alongside his chosen.

“Good morning Plagg,” Adrien replies, walking over to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

His Sunday went on as regularly scheduled. He went downstairs to partake in a breakfast in solitude. Afterward, he did some school work, practiced Chinese, and played a bit of piano. Before he knew it, he was expected to join his father for Sunday dinner.

Adrien dons nicer clothes than usual, attempting to avoid any comments on his appearance from his father. Moments before he is expected downstairs, Adrien is in his bathroom mirror fussing with his hair.

“Making sure there isn’t a hair out of line, huh?” Plagg asks sarcastically. 

“Pretty much,” Adrien solemnly grumbles, using the flat of his palm to push some stray hairs into place. 

“Kid,” Plagg replies seriously, flying up closer to the blonde's face. “I know you’re a little freaked out with your father, but it’s just dinner. The only tragedy that could happen at dinner is the meal having no cheese elements,” Plagg snarkily states.

The young man lets out a deep sigh and relaxes his shoulders. “You’re right Plagg, it’s just dinner,” Adrien says, looking at himself one last time in the mirror. Staring back at him was the picture perfect son his father would be expecting. Without needing to speak another word to each other, Adrien opens his suit jacket, and Plagg flies inside, resting in one of the inner pockets. Flicking the bathroom lights off, Adrien heads down to the dining room.

As Adrien enters the dining room, he is immediately struck by how out of routine the set up seems to be. The large mahogany table can sit up to twenty people, and normally Adrien ate alone at one end of the table. On the rare occurrence his father joined him, the two sat on the farthest ends from each other. But, like a deer in headlights, Adrien stares at the table. Three place settings adorn the table, all situated on one end of the table. One at the head of the table, and two on either side.

Memories flood Adrien’s mind immediately. He hasn’t seen the table set like this in nearly three years.

Adrien looks down at his dinner of braised duck, served with scalloped potatoes and glazed carrots. Warm arms appear on either side of him, helping to cut the duck into easier to eat pieces for the 5-year-old.

“Thanks, momma,” Adrien beams and uses his fork to capture a piece of the duck.

“Of course sunshine,” the blonde woman says with a kiss to the top of his blonde locks. The mother moves to sit across from her son, and next to her husband before the family begins to enjoy their dinner.

Adrien listens intently to his parent’s conversation as he savors his meal, his small legs not quite touching the ground swinging freely.

“How did the casting for the winter line go honey?” Emilie asks while cutting off a small piece of duck from her plate.

“Uninspiring,” Gabriel pouts, cutting a piece of his duck with a bit too much ferocity, his knife hitting the plate with a small screech. “I told the hiring agencies I wanted models who could add personality to the pieces, models who would help the pieces pop on the page,” the man explains. “But of course they send me the same bland cookie-cutter models they always do,” he complains.

The woman lets out a small laugh. “Well isn’t part of being a model being a bit cookie-cutter?” Emilie argues, smiling at her husband.

“I suppose,” Gabriel breathes out smiling back at his wife. Without saying another word, Gabriel moves his right hand closer to his wife, who immediately takes his hand in hers. Adrien watches puzzled as his father seems to squeeze his mother's hand three times before they both return to eating their dinner.

“What does uninspiring mean?” Adrien asks while racking his young brain to try to determine the meaning.

Adrien’s parents look to each other briefly before his mother begins to explain. “Well Adrien, you know how we talked about imagination a couple of days ago?” She asks.

“Uh-huh,” the young boy responds, taking a bite of his potatoes.

“Uninspiring is when something doesn’t make you want to use your imagination, when something doesn’t help you be creative,” his mother explains.

“Okay,” Adrien nods, soaking up the information his mother is providing.

“Uninspiring comes from the word inspiring, and that word means something does help you be creative, it helps you use your imagination. The “un” in front of the word means “not”,” his mother explains.

“Hmmm,” Adrien furrows his brow as he tries to understand the concept.

“How about this,” the patient mother smiles. “It’s fair that we all get dinner, right?” She asks.

“Uh-huh,” the child replies.

“Well if I take your daddy’s food-” Emilie says as she reaches over and scoops up Gabriel’s plate from in front of him, causing his fork to slide across the plate as he was about to take a bite of carrot.

“Hey!” Gabriel replies as his half-eaten meal is taken from him.

“Now it is unfair, because I have two dinners, and your father has none,” Emilie smirks and looks at her husband, who appears to be pouting. Whether he was playing along with the impromptu lesson is not quite clear.

“Oh!” Adrien exclaims in understanding, “I think I get it now, thanks, momma!”

“Can I have my dinner back now?” Gabriel nearly whines. Emilie laughs in reply and places his plate back down in front of him.

The family finishes up dinner making comfortable conversation, some about what Adrien has been learning, some about the _Gabriel_brand, some about Emilie’s occasional acting opportunities.

As the staff begins to tidy up the family dinner, Adrien slides off his chair and rushes over to his mother.

“Momma,” he says, looking up into his mother’s kind eyes.

“Yes, dear?” She replies, gently patting her mouth with a cloth napkin.

“I wanna show father what I made today, maybe it will help him!” Adrien animatedly says, practically bouncing up and down in excitement. 

“Great idea,” Emilie responds, matching his enthusiasm. She looks over to her husband who has his eyebrows raised in interest.

Adrien nods and runs up to his room, collecting the drawing he made earlier that day of his mother, father, and him during their trip to Tibet last year. Being as young as he is, he couldn’t quite remember the trip, but his mother told him about it many times, showing him images of the beautiful snow-capped mountains in the region. Bounding back down the stairs, he approaches his father with a piece of paper.

“Father, I hope this will inspire you!” Adrien says, beaming as he correctly uses the new word he learned. Gabriel looks at the drawing with an unreadable expression on his face that turns into a small smile.

[](https://ibb.co/4SVy8bJ)  


“Thank you, Adrien,” his father says, reaching down to pat him on the shoulder. “I will frame this in my office, it will definitely inspire me,” he promises.

“Why don’t you go wash up after dinner honey?” Emilie says, elbow resting casually on the dining room table.

“Okay, momma!” Adrien happily obliges, heading off to the nearest bathroom.

The young boy climbs on top of a step stool and runs his hands under the water. As he sings his ABCs while washing as his mom taught him, he stops when he hears what sounds like a crash back in the dining room. Muffled through the door he hears his father frantically say, “Emilie?”

“Momma? Father?” Adrien calls, not hearing anything but the rushing of the sink water. Without turning off the water or drying his hands, the young boy climbs down from the step stool. Hurrying back into the dining room he stands alone as he notices both his parents are gone. Adrien spots his drawing discarded on the floor near where his parents were sitting.

“Your mother and father are busy Adrien,” Nathalie suddenly appears, squatting down to his level. Gently, she recovers the drawing.

“Let’s get you ready for bed, okay?” The assistant asks. Adrien responds with a nod, allowing the familiar woman to lead him up the stairs.

Lost in his own head, Adrien snaps back to reality when he hears the familiar sound of his father’s dress shoes clacking against the hardwood floors. Without a moment to lose, Adrien takes a seat in the chair that would typically be “his” if his mother was still here.

Adrien scoots his chair closer to the table and sits up straight while he waits for his father to arrive. He listens to his father’s steady footsteps which appear to be accompanied by another set of footsteps. Before he has the chance to determine who could possibly be joining them for dinner, his father and Nathalie enter the dining room.

“Good evening father, Nathalie,” Adrien greets them, a hint of surprise in his tone. Respectfully he stands as the adults take their seats- his father at the head of the table, and Nathalie in the seat his mother used to sit.

“Good evening Adrien,” Nathalie smiles back, taking a moment to adjust the glasses on her face.

“Hello son, thank you for joining us,” Gabriel formally adds.

The staff appear to pour the adults a glass of wine each and to his surprise his father informs the staff to pour Adrien a glass of wine as well. Adrien looks over the scene and tries to determine just what is going on. His father is dressed in his typical formal day-to-day attire, such is the life of a fashion designer. Nathalie, on the other hand, is not dressed in her common executive assistant business clothes. Instead, Nathalie is wearing a form-flattering black dress with a small jacket. She has on a simple gold necklace and simple black heels. Her usually reserved hair is partially free, as she has half of it pulled into a bun, and the other half hangs down below that, framing her face quite nicely. 

“Nathalie you look especially nice tonight,” Adrien compliments his father’s assistant.

“Oh, thank you, Adrien,” Nathalie smiles sweetly before taking a sip of her white wine.

The blonde observes his father’s reaction at his compliment to Nathalie. Adrien observes his father look over to Nathalie, looking her up and down before turning his attention to his wine glass. 

“_Father definitely notices how nice Nathalie looks tonight_,” Adrien considers, quietly thanking the staff for pouring him a glass of the white wine. “_I wonder why Nathalie is joining us for dinner apparently off the clock_,” he thinks, reaching over to take a sip of the sweet alcohol.

“So father, how was your week?” Adrien asks, attempting to start a normal conversation with Gabriel.

“It was productive,” Gabriel answers shortly. Adrien slouches a bit in his chair at his father’s brief response. After a couple moments, the young man watches Nathalie and Gabriel’s eyes meet and exchange a knowing look before his father speaks again.

“The London fashion show is prepared for next week, I anticipate no problems. And the _Gabriel_ brand is extending our reach into the Eastern markets successfully son,” his father explains.

“Oh, that’s great father!” Adrien sits up straighter at his father’s engagement in the conversation. Soon their first course, a watercress and beetroot salad, is served.

“And how was your week, son?” Gabriel asks before piercing some salad onto his fork.

“It went well father,” Adrien replies. “My Mandarin is getting better every day, and my conversational Japanese is improving as well. I made the highest marks in my physics class on the exam last week as well!” Adrien smiles, hoping to impress his father.

“I expect nothing less,” Gabriel coldly replies.

Adrien looks down again, absentmindedly pushing the salad around on his plate. He glances up again when he hears Nathalie clear her throat.

“Uh but yes Adrien that is excellent,” Gabriel adds. “I am glad you are excelling in so many areas,” his father awkwardly praises.

“Thank you father,” Adrien replies with a wide smile, taking a generous bite of his salad.

The three take a few moments to eat their salads in mutual silence, finishing up the first course. As the plates are taken away, Nathalie states, “I was very sad to hear about the passing of Ms. Tsurugi’s grandfather, have you heard from her at all?” 

“A bit,” Adrien responds, “she’s been really busy in Japan with family, plus the timezone change has made it hard for us to connect. She’s doing okay.” 

To Adrien’s surprise, the rest of the dinner continues on amicably. A dinner of roast pork with apples, cider vinegar & rosemary is served which the three of them enjoy together. They discuss the new designs his father is working on for the spring line. Nathalie shares a bit about her personal life, talking about how she is expecting to be an aunt soon, now that her younger brother and his wife are expecting a baby. 

“They moved to Germany a few years ago, but we’ve stayed in touch,” Nathalie explains.

“Be sure to let me know when your niece or nephew is born,” Gabriel states, “the Agreste’s will want to be sure to send a gift.” 

“Of course Gabriel,” Nathalie says with a smile, cutting a piece of her roasted pork. Adrien’s eyebrows raise a bit in surprise at Nathalie calling his father by his name, instead of the typical “sir”. 

Adrien watches his father as he takes a bite of his own pork, the corner of his lips pulling into a slight smile.

“_Nathalie really seems to make father happy_,” Adrien considers, looking at the pair of adults. “_I wonder if something is going on between the two of them_,” the blonde ponders, “_it has been a few years, it wouldn’t be out of line for father to start moving on.”_

Adrien smiles to himself and continues sipping on his wine. He feels warmth spread throughout his chest and he isn’t sure if it is caused by the wine, or that he is actually enjoying this dinner with his father for once.

“Adrien,” his father addresses him from behind his glasses. “Do you have any interest in learning to drive?”

The young man’s eyes open wide at his father’s question. “Oh, yes of course!” Adrien stutters, obviously surprised at the question.

“I think it is important to learn to drive, even if you won’t personally drive often,” Gabriel explains, “we will make arrangements soon to select a car that meets your needs.”

“Th-thank you father,” Adrien stammers, still stunned at the sudden offer from his father.

“_Dinner is going much better than I ever expected,_” Adrien thinks, taking another bite of the roast and sip of wine. “_I wonder if I should bring up anything about mother, or just enjoy the rest of the evening,_” he ponders.

Adrien decides not to bring up anything about his mother, choosing to simply enjoy the company of his father and Nathalie. When the second course is concluded, Adrien sips on the sweet wine as the staff puts out a small plate of madeleines for the three of them to share as dessert.

Unlike most of their shared dinners, his father doesn’t immediately depart when finishing his meal. Instead, the three of them stay at the table, making pleasant conversation, finishing their glasses of wine and snacking on the small cakes between them.

As Adrien finishes his glass of wine, he can feel the intoxicating effects of the beverage. Adrien hasn’t really consumed much alcohol in his short life, aside from the sip of champagne here or there at his father’s events. The staff returns to the table, refilling all their glasses, and Adrien takes this glass much more slowly, already feeling the effects of the first one.

Adrien finishes another half a glass as the adults finish their second, marking the end of their pleasant Sunday dinner together. Gabriel stands up first, looking over to Adrien with softened eyes. Adrien and Nathalie get up too, but as Nathalie stands she sways a bit, bringing a hand up to clutch her head. Before she topples over, Gabriel is there, holding her steady against him.

“Nathalie are you alright?” Adrien rushes around the table over to his father and Nathalie.

“Yes, I’m fine Adrien, I just had a bit too much wine I think,” Nathalie smiles, still a bit pale from standing up quickly.

Adrien immediately recalls the crashes he heard in the home when he was young. And how he saw how unwell his mother was as he got older. Fear and anxiety shoot through Adrien, causing his heart to jump and his palms to go sweaty.

“_Mother used to say things like that too_,” Adrien recognizes, watching Gabriel slowly unfurl himself from Nathalie until she is capable of standing on her own. 

This wasn’t the first time Adrien has seen Nathalie have one of these ‘dizzy spells.’ “_Mother would get dizzy, always play it off, father would say it was nothing_,” he continues to spiral, “_why is this happening again?_” 

“Adrien it’s getting late, you should go upstairs and prepare for school tomorrow,” his father instructs, a protective hand still on the middle of his assistant’s back, his eyes focused on looking her over.

This situation was eerily too familiar for Adrien.

“Is Nathalie going to be okay?” Adrien questions, concern apparent in his voice. He ignores his father’s request for him to leave. “_I won’t get ushered upstairs this time,_” he tells himself. The young man’s eyes drift from his father to the family portrait behind him. Be it the wine or the recent feelings about his father, he is unable to hide his expression as his eyebrows furrow and his hands twist into fists by his side.

“I’m fine Adrien,” Nathalie smiles weakly back at him, drawing his eyes from the portrait back to her and his father.

“_Mother always said she was fine too_,” Adrien thinks, his breathing rapidly increasing, “_that is when I even saw her get dizzy, father always hid it from me. He always hides everything from me!_”

“Son it’s time for you to head upstairs,” Gabriel repeats, his tone taking a severe cadence to it. 

“No!” Adrien finds himself nearly shouting while shaking his head, alarming the two adults. “Why is what happened to mother happening to Nathalie too?!” He explodes, pointing an accusatory finger at his father.

“Adrien I-” Nathalie starts.

“That’s enough Adrien!” Gabriel shouts back, stepping forward to put himself between his son and his assistant. Adrien looks his father directly in the eye, no longer needing to tilt his chin upwards to do so.

“You expect me to just ignore that Nathalie is getting dizzy just like mom used to?” Adrien stands his ground, fury burning in his chest. Beneath his jacket he can feel Plagg press against him in a futile attempt to calm him down.

“This is nothing Adrien she had too mu-” Gabriel continues to argue gesturing back to Nathalie.

“Bullshit!” Adrien bites back, reveling in the way his father recoils at his unsophisticated word choice. “This has all happened before, don’t try to mess with my head!” Adrien growls, bringing his hands up to his head.

“This has nothing to do with your mother!” His father contends.

“This has everything to do with my mother!” Adrien counters, bringing his hands down in front of him.

“You are hysterical and out of line!” Gabriel shouts back. 

“You probably think I forgot, but I remember! Mother was sick for a long time before she went missing. How long is Nathalie going to be sick before you get rid of her too?!” Adrien shouts.

Before Adrien has the opportunity to regret his words, he feels the stinging weight of his father’s hand striking his left cheek. The sharp slapping sound is followed by a gasp from Nathalie, and then complete silence.

Adrien reaches up to touch his reddened skin, tears forming in his eyes from the lingering burn of the hit. Plagg buzzes angrily in his jacket. He looks to his father and sees Gabriel’s usually stoic face immediately riddled with remorse. 

“Adrien, I-I’m sorry,” his father starts taking a tentative step closer, a hand outstretched.

“Get away from me!” The blonde shouts, defensively swiping his father’s hand away.

Without looking back, Adrien finally complies with his father’s wishes, and goes up to his room.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for your patience! Please enjoy this latest chapter of The Search. Feel free to leave a comment with any feedback or thoughts you have on the story thus far! Much love to you all.


	8. Missed Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya recieves a call from Nino about what happened between Adrien and his father.
> 
> Nino tries his best to comfort Adrien after his heated confrontation with his father.

  
  


Alya sits at her desk, fingers resting on the keyboard of her laptop. Her eyebrows are scrunched together in focus as she reads the text on her computer, the light of the screen reflecting onto her glasses. Her parents always insist the whole family sit down together for dinner, but Alya was able to convince her parents to let her eat in her room tonight. She fed them a bogus excuse about a major project to complete for school tomorrow. She reaches over to skewer some green beans onto her fork, popping them into her mouth. Despite the deliciousness of the meal her mom, a professional chef no less, had made, Alya’s attention was focused elsewhere.

Alya had spent the last couple hours scouring the internet, reading articles, threads, and watching videos related to the disappearance of Emilie Agreste, also known as Emilie Graham de Vanily. She had learned more about Emilie’s life before Gabriel Agreste. Apparently, not to her surprise, Emilie came from wealth. The Graham de Vanily family are British aristocrats based out of London. The Graham de Vanily estate owns Graham Films, a major entertainment company in the United Kingdom, and much of the EU. They have produced and distributed many major hits, amassing a fortune for the family. She learns Graham Films are also known for producing smaller works, often partnering with stars in other industries. Alya notes that Emilie starred in a small production for a film called _Solitude_ created by none other than Audrey Bourgeois, the Queen of Fashion. The article she is currently reading claims the short film was a passion project for both the star, Emilie Agreste, and the producer, Aubrey Bourgeois. Despite her best sleuthing, she couldn’t find a copy of this film available anywhere online.

_“I guess I’ll need to connect with Chloe to see if she can talk to her mom about Adrien’s mom. They seemed to be close…”_ Alya considers as she adds this note to her ever-growing document of information. 

The auburn-haired girl let out a sigh at the thought of having to work with Chloe. Of course, the aristocratic bully had tempered out in recent years, but she was still often grating to be around.

_“Just be like Ladybug, be patient and forgiving,”_ Alya tells herself as she stands up from her computer chair. After a short stretch, she walks over to her bed to retrieve her phone from where it was plugged in charging next to her bed. Alya often kept her phone out of reach when researching, as the constant influx of texts and notifications were a major distraction for her. Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise when she unlocks her phone to see several missed calls and unanswered texts from both Nino and Marinette.

_“Shit,”_ her mind rings immediately when she sees the flood of contact attempts.

  
  


****

**2 missed calls from Nino**

**Nino:** Babe call me back, shit went down w/ Adrien and his old man

****

**4 missed calls from Marinette**

**Marinette:** Do you know what’s going on with Adrien???

****

**1 missed call from Marinette**

**Marinette:** Alya pleeeeease tell me everything is OK

****

**1 missed call from Nino**

****

**1 missed call from Marinette**

**Marinette:** Okay I spoke with Nino, Adrien is at his place

**Nino:** call me when u can

  
  


After quickly reading the messages, she clicks into Nino’s contact and calls him back. She brings her phone up to her ear and begins to pace in her bedroom as the phone rings.

“Hey babe,” she hears the calm and collected voice of her boyfriend on the other end of the line.

“Nino, what is going on?” She immediately asks, given all the strange texts she received. “Is Adrien okay?” She follows up with.

“Ya he’s okay,” Nino responds, this time speaking more quietly and seriously. “Yeah it’s Alya, she finally called back, is it okay to talk to her?” Alya can make out as Nino apparently speaks with someone else with him. She can only assume it is Adrien. She isn’t able to hear a reply to his question if there was one.

“Hey babe,” Nino says again, seemingly starting their conversation over from the top.

“What happened?” Alya presses again, needing to understand the apparently serious situation.

“Well,” Nino starts, pausing to seemingly collect his thoughts. “Remember when we were at the Karaoke Bar, and you asked Adrien if he felt safe at home?”

Alya feels her blood run cold.

“Y-yeah,” she affirms.

“So Adrien had a disagreement with his old man tonight, and well, his dad slapped him across the face. Pretty hard too,” her boyfriend explains.

Alya lets out a quiet sigh of relief. _“This is horrible, but at least Adrien wasn’t seriously hurt….or worse,”_ she thinks to herself.

“Give me a sec,” Alya states as she moves back over to her desk. Turning her bluetooth on, she connects her phone with her wireless earbuds, allowing her hands to be free to continue the conversation.

“This is the first time this has happened?” Alya asks, returning to her document to add this most recent event to her developing timeline.

“Yeah,” Nino responds, she can hear him dryly swallow on the other end of the line.

_“Nino is too chill for this, this is probably hard for him to deal with,”_ Alya frowns as she begins research into Gabriel’s past, looking for any red flags of prior domestic violence.

“Do your parents know what happened?” Alya questions as she pulls up another tab for local domestic violence resources for teens.

“Nah,” Nino casually replies, “we just told them we both forgot about a Monday exam and needed to cram all night together” she hears Nino likely get up and start walking around his own room. “So, are you alright babe? Why didn’t you answer earlier?” He asks.

“I was really in-depth in some research,” Alya admits, “I even skipped Sunday dinner, I told my mom there was a big project due tomorrow, I hope our moms don’t compare notes,” she shortly laughs. She hears Nino laugh curtly in response.

“Well we called you cuz’ you’re like in tune with how to handle stuff like this,” Nino confesses with a sigh.

“Does Adrien know what he wants to do?” She quietly asks.

“Not a clue,” Nino replies deadpan. “Honestly I don’t blame him, it’s a fucked up situation,” he continues.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Alya requests. After a short pause, Nino begins to tell her what happened between Adrien, his father, and Natalie at dinner earlier tonight. Occasionally she hears Adrien quietly chime in in the background, to correct minor mistakes in Nino’s retelling. After describing the confrontation Adrien had with his father, Nino explains the blonde called him to tell him he was outside his house. Of course, he let him in and gave his bogus excuse to his parents about the impromptu slumber party.

“Did Adrien walk all the way to your place?” Alya asks, a bit surprised. The boys lived in completely different parts of the city, with Nino’s middle-class family living a far cry away from the Agreste mansion.

“He ran here apparently,” Nino responds, “the boys got some good cardio. Anyway, we tried to call you, as you know. Then we called Mari, who kinda freaked out. You know how Mari is. But after her initial freakout, she spoke briefly with Adrien on the phone which seemed to help.”

“Yeah,” Alya hears Adrien add.

_“That’s my girl,”_ Alya thinks to herself.

“So,” Alya begins as she quickly clicks through and skims links, “corporal punishment is technically illegal in France, it was made illegal just a couple months ago actually.” The auburn-haired girl explains as she pores over the information on her screen. “But it looks like it isn’t really enforced, if any punishment is given, which is rare, at most it’s a civil penalty,” she explains.

“Uhhhh,” Nino pauses, confusion evident in his tone, “corporal punishment, what?”

“Corporal punishment, you know like spanking or slapping? Everything modern parenting 101 books say you shouldn’t do to kids anymore,” Alya clarifies. “At the end of the day it means, there isn’t much Adrien can do,” Alya sadly remarks, leaning back in her computer chair. “He could report it, but his father is very powerful and influential, I don’t know if it would go anywhere,” she admits.

“That’s alright babe, I don’t think he wants to report his old man,” Nino speaks quietly into his phone. 

“Okay well try to convince him to journal or record a video explaining what happened,” she advises, “just in case something worse happens down the line, he has something to back up his word now.” 

“Yeah that makes sense,” Nino easily agrees.

“How is he doing?” Alya asks.

“He’s… okay,” Nino says, a bit of hesitation apparent in his voice. “Don’t worry Alya, Adrien is my bro, I’ll take care of him.”

“I know you will,” Alya says as she smiles gently, “I’ll leave you to it, call me back if you need anything.”

“I will, thanks babe,” Nino responds before ending the call.

Alya brings her fingertips to her forehead, methodically rubbing in circles to quell an oncoming headache.

_“I hope we’re not all in over our head with this,”_ Alya considers as she navigates to the Paris Police website. There, she begins exploring the page for a way to order a police report, hoping to find a way to access the documents related to the disappearance of Emilie Agreste.

_“Maybe I can talk to Ladybug and Chat Noir about this, they can probably pull some strings with the cops,”_ she considers. _"But before that, I should probably call Mari back,”_ Alya tells herself, before clicking on Marinette’s name on her phone and hearing her phone ring in her ears.

  
  


Nino looks down at his phone after ending his call with Alya. The aspiring DJ watches as a flood of texts come through, linking to different resources that may be able to help Adrien through this situation.

_“I’ve never been good at dealing with this serious stuff,”_ Nino frowns as he locks his phone and slides it into his sweatpants pocket. Pushing away his negative feelings, Nino turns around to see Adrien sitting on the floor next to his bed, seemingly lost in thought.

“Alright,” Nino says with a bit of a forced smile, “what do you want to do dude?”

“I don’t know,” Adrien mumbles. Nino can see one part of his face still slightly red from his encounter with his father. “I guess I should record something, ya know, just in case,” Adrien remarks with a dour tone, using his fingers to make air quotes at the end of his statement. 

“Ya, wanna just get that over with?” Nino suggests.

“Can you record it? It’s probably safer on your phone anyway. Plus you can back it up on your PC,” Adrien requests, slowly getting up from the floor to sit on the edge of Nino’s messy bed.

“Sure dude, whatever you need,” Nino swallows, pulling his phone back out.

  
  


**Alya:** I know this is stressful, but Adrien went to you for a reason. Hang in there. You’re a good friend.

  
  


Nino smiles warmly at the latest message on his screen from his girlfriend. _“Why does she always seem to know what I’m thinking,”_ Nino laughs to himself as he opens the camera on his device.

“Alright man, I’m ready whenever you are,” the amber-eyed boy states.

“Okay,” Adrien calmly replies. Nino clicks the record button on his phone and gives Adrien a thumbs up.

“Um, my name is Adrien Agreste, today is Sunday, November 3rd, 2019. Tonight at dinner, I had a disagreement with my father over the disappearance of my mother. She disappeared Christmas of 2016,” Adrien says clearly before looking down at his hands, one of which is fiddling with his ever-present silver ring.

“We were shouting, my father and I that is,” Adrien continues, still looking down. “I said some things, he said some things, and he struck me across the face with his hand.” The blonde states. “This was the first time he has ever been physically violent with me, but I wanted to record this video, just in case something happens to me.” The young man finishes, clearly very distraught by the end of the impromptu testimonial.

“Alright man, I’m just gonna take a couple pictures of your cheek, that okay?” Nino asks.

“Yup, photo shoot time,” Adrien replies sarcastically.

Nino leans in, holding his camera close to Adrien’s face and waiting for the picture to focus. Once it does he takes a couple pictures with flash, and a couple without.

“I think that’s more than good enough,” he exclaims, leaning back to give Adrien some space, “I’m gonna go ahead and get this backed up on my PC now, okay?” 

“Thanks,” Adrien responds solemnly. 

“Feel free to grab anything you want from my mini-fridge,” Nino gestures, “or borrow some sweatpants, whatever you need.” 

Nino walks over to his set up and connects his phone to his PC. After a moment, he drags a copy of the video into a secure folder on his desktop. Looking over his shoulder, he can see Adrien still sitting, nearly slumped over into himself on the edge of his bed.

_“I wish we could get Mari or one of the girls over here,”_ Nino considers, _“they would know exactly what to say to comfort him.”_ The young man sits at his desk for a few moments longer before grabbing his portable bluetooth speaker and walking over to his best friend.

“Hey,” Nino says before sitting on the bed next to Adrien.

“Hey,” Adrien responds, picking up his head to look over at Nino. Nino can tell his eyes are red like he’s been holding back tears.

“It’s… okay to cry man,” Nino tells him.

“It’s not very manly,” the blonde sniffles.

“Fuck manly, this shit sucks!” Nino says with a slight laugh, gently placing his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. Adrien quietly chuckles alongside him, reaching up to wipe a stray tear falling down his face.

“So I have an idea,” Nino slyly remarks, a mischievous grin gracing his face.

“I’m all ears,” Adrien looks at him suspiciously. 

The playful look still betraying him, Nino goes over to his underwear drawer and rummages through it. Adrien continues to sit on his bed, a look of confusion ever-growing on his face.

“Sooo…” Nino begins, grabbing something from the drawer but hiding it from Adrien’s view. “You said you wanted to try it at some point, why not tonight?” 

Nino turns around with a small sealed jar, a glass pipe, and a grinder.

“Weed?” Adrien whispers looking around the empty bedroom nervously like Officer Raincomprix, or maybe his father, is going to pop out of the closet.

“Yeah weed,” Nino chuckles at his reaction. “You of course don’t have to, but I thought I would at least offer,” Nino shrugs.

“Won’t your parents smell it?” Adrien presses.

“That’s what the roof is for,” Nino smirks back. He waits for a moment, watching Adrien as he seems to think over the offer. As the seconds drag on without a response Nino begins to regret offering it at all.

“Hey man, seriously, don’t feel pressured. I can put it away and we can-” Nino begins.

“Wait!” Adrien says, standing up with his fists clenched by his sides. “I want to try it,” he states firmly. “Because… because fuck my father right now, and he would hate me doing this!” He continues.

“Yeah?” Nino questions.

“Yeah, if he found out his perfect son was getting high tonight, he would lose it. This completely deviates from his perfectly regimented life plan for me,” Adrien continues, his voice filled with conviction.

“Okay let’s go,” Nino smiles, not needing any more affirmation from his friend. Nino quickly moves around his room, almost routinely packing the weed into a little bag with his speaker, some snacks, a couple sodas, and a blanket. “Follow me,” he instructs as he opens his window. Nino carefully steps through the window, onto the slanted tile rooftop directly under him. Mindful of the angle of the rooftop, he turns to look at Adrien. “Be careful,” he advises.

He steps to the side allowing enough room for Adrien to step through. Nino was expecting the innocent Adrien Agreste to be nervous climbing up to the rooftop, but to his surprise, the blonde boldly steps onto the precipice turning to look at him like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“What?” Adrien looks over to the surprised Nino.

“Nothing,” he laughs, “I was expecting you to be more nervous about climbing up to the rooftop.” 

“Oh,” the blonde responds with surprise, “yeah, well I’ve escaped my house a few times,” he says to justify his confidence

“Makes sense,” Nino says with a shrug, “come on parkour master, follow me.” Nino leads Adrien over to an area where you can pretty easily ascend the side of the building to get to the roof. After showing Adrien the way, he climbs up, turning back around to ensure his friend makes it up safely. Just like before, Adrien easily follows him.

With both of them secure on the roof, Nino reaches into his small bag and spreads out the blanket on the cold rooftop. 

“So our asses don’t get cold,” he remarks, gesturing to the blanket he just laid out.

“And here I thought this was a midnight picnic under the stars” Adrien responds dryly, before turning to look at his friend with a sarcastic stare. The pair share a laugh, as Nino pulls out the rest of his goods. The boys sit on the blanket as Nino pulls out a bud of weed and gives it to Adrien to examine. He then shows Adrien his grinder and demonstrates how to grind up the flower. After the impromptu lesson on weed, the bowl is packed and Nino pulls out his lighter.

“Oh wait, we need tunes,” he adds before lighting the pipe. He reaches to his phone to play some chill beats from his speaker.

“Alright,” he begins, “do you want the first hit?” He offers the pipe to his friend.

“I want to watch you first,” Adrien responds a bit nervous.

“Gotcha gotcha,” Nino smiles. He takes a moment to explain to Adrien how to smoke out of the glass bowl, before unceremoniously bringing the pipe to his mouth and lighting the ground up bud. He inhales deeply before taking the pipe away from his lips. After a moment, he tilts his head back and exhales. 

“Ready to try?” He offers the pipe to Adrien.

“Y-yes,” Adrien shakily replies. Nino giggles at the model of perfection, Adrien Agreste, holding a weed-packed pipe.

“What’s so funny?” Adrien responds defensively.

“I’m sorry man, you’re just such a goody-good, it’s a little funny to see you about to smoke some weed,” Nino admits.

“I’m not as good as you think,” Adrien grumbles. The blonde brings the pipe to his lips, as Nino instructs him through the best way to light it and breath in. 

“Don’t breathe in too hard, it’s your first-” Nino begins as Adrien coughs out loudly, holding the pipe out for Nino to grab it.

Nino quickly grabs the bowl, scooting over to pat Adrien on the back. “You’re okay man,” he smiles.

_“I remember when I took my first hit,”_ Nino recalls warmly.

“Can I get one of those sodas?” Adrien says hoarsely. 

“Of course dude,” Nino says, reaching into his bag to hand the can to Adrien. As Adrien pops the drink open, Nino takes the moment to take another hit off the bowl for himself.

“Okay I think I can do it better this time,” Adrien says with determination, putting down his drink and gesturing for the pipe.

“Hey you don’t want to go too hard man, this is your first time and school’s tomorrow,” Nino rebuffs.

“I know,” Adrien responds, reaching out his hand for the pipe. Nino laughs and hands the bowl and lighter back over to the blonde. To Nino’s surprise, Adrien did much better on his second try, barely even coughing when he exhaled.

“How are you feeling?” Nino asks as he pulls out a drink for himself.

“Good,” Adrien replies with a smile.

Nino smiles back, unpacking the snacks he grabbed for this impromptu smoke session. He laughed as he saw Adrien’s eyes light up at the array of junk food available.

“Knock yourself out,” Nino says, waving his hand over the assortment. Adrien immediately dives for a package of powdered donuts, opening it and shoving one, then two of the small baked goods into his mouth.

“You know,” he mused, already eyeing another donut, “my father hates this stuff, never lets it in the house.” 

“Really?” Nino asks, surprised but not really. Nino couldn’t imagine anyone that didn’t enjoy a pre-packaged, comfort snack like these but he figured if anyone did it would be Gabriel Agreste. 

“Yea he said it was all poison and that I didn’t need to be putting it into my body,” Adrien scoffed, biting into another, “honestly I think it was to just keep my weight down for the photoshoots,” he said a little sadly. 

Nino nodded, that made sense.

Adrien finished off the last of the donut and laid back on the blanket, crossing his arms over himself and resting a heavy hand over his heart. For a while it was quiet, Nino nearly suspected that Adrien had fallen asleep seeing as weed tended to knock out first time users pretty quickly.

But then Adrien sighed, “no one really gets it,” he spoke lowly.

“Mm?” Nino looked over at his friend curiously, “gets what?”

“What it’s like, to be me,” he said.

Nino rolled over and leaned on his arm, facing his friend with all his attention, “what do you mean?” 

“Everyone just sees the magazines, the nice clothes and things, all the lessons and tutoring,” he started listing off, “the mansion, the fame…” he shook his head, “but I don’t want it. At least I don’t think so.” 

Nino wasn’t sure what to say. He thought back to Alya’s text but felt like maybe she had a little too much faith in him. He wasn’t a therapist, he wasn’t even the smartest kid in their class. He didn’t know what to do with this. 

Adrien sat up quickly, he didn’t even seem to notice that Nino hadn’t responded, “but I don’t know anything different and I think that’s the really fucked up part?” He says as if asking a question. 

Nino followed suit and sat up as well, crossing his legs and leaning on his knees, focusing himself up through the slight fog of the weed. 

“These years…” Adrien paused, his voice trembling just slightly, “these last couple years with all of you, just having friends and going to school it’s been so great but I’m realizing now how messed up my life has been,” he admits, “I mean you guys always talk about things like game nights with your family or traveling to visit your cousins and I realize how regular that is for you, and I nod along,” he explains, gesturing as he connected his rambling, “but I don’t really get it.”

“I don’t know, you’re not missing much man,” Nino laughed. “My cousins are a pain,” he responds reflexively. 

“That’s not the point, Nino,” Adrien shoots back, causing Nino's eyes to widen slightly. “I don’t even know what that’s like! My family is a mystery to me. They don’t visit, they don’t even keep in touch. My father doesn’t let them in,” he explained. “I mean my Aunt Amelie practically had to force her way into the mansion to see us and she wasn’t even there to see us…she just wanted my mom’s rings,” he says sadly, pausing for a moment as if recollecting over everything he’d just said, “it’s fucked, it’s really fucked.”

Adrien threw his hands into his lap as if forfeiting to his own defeatism, “I mean don’t get me wrong, your friendship, and Alya, Marinette, Kagami, even Chloe, it means everything to me,” he touched his hand to his chest, clutching the fabric of his shirt again as pain struck his face, “but sometimes I think I was better off before.” 

Nino frowned, his brow falling into a heavy line, “before what?”

“Before I got a taste of real happiness,” Adrien nearly whispers through misty eyes and a shaky voice, “I’m so happy because of you, all of you,” a weak smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. 

Nino felt his heart lurch forward. This was real, like really real. He’d always thought conversations like this only existed in movies. _“You’d think after all those weekends in front of the TV I’d have a clue what to say next,”_ he thought to himself, a little frustrated with his inadequacy in this situation. 

He looked to his friend with a half smile, “come on man,” he put a hand on his shoulder, “what about your mom? I know you were happy then, I’ve seen your screensaver,” he chuckled lightly, perhaps deflecting the weight of the situation with humor.

It may have been a tad crass but Adrien cracked a smile, so in a small way it was the right thing to say, “yea, you’re right.” 

“But I hear you man,” Nino assures him, “I know all those years with just your dad had to have been bad, I’m really starting to get that now,” he continues with a heavy sigh, letting his arm fall back to his lap. 

“They were,” Adrien nodded, “and you know I think that’s what really hurts? More than him hitting me,” he begins, clenching his jaw as he shook his head, “I…,” Adrien squeezed his eyes shut tightly, whatever he was about to say was clearly tearing up inside, “I always thought my father missed my mom the same way I did, I thought that was the one thing we shared…and now I don’t.” 

Nino swallowed hard. Again, he was at a loss for words. But he could tell his words weren’t that mattered. It was him listening, him being there. It finally struck him what Adrien needed right now is someone to listen, someone to reflect with, someone to just be there for him. So that’s what he decided to do.

The night continued on, the boys passing the pipe back and forth, Nino taking far more hits than Adrien. They moved on to talk about everything and anything that wasn’t about Adrien’s family. Nino spent a lot of time listening. They shared a lot of laughs and some more coughs. Being the more experienced smoker of the two, Nino kept an eye on Adrien trying to make sure he didn’t overdo it.

After they were both sufficiently stoned and had their fill of snacks, they again found themselves laying on the blanket, looking up at the dull, light-polluted Paris sky. 

“What are you thinking about?” Nino asks, tapping his fingers against his chest in time with the current song on the speaker.

“You know, normal stuff,” the blonde answers. “Like if my father murdered my mother and hid her body somewhere no one could ever find her,” Adrien says plainly, before breaking out into an outrageous laugh.

The laugh catches Nino off guard, and soon the boys are both doubled over in laughter together. The laughing fit continues for a good while before they both calm down and sit up.

“What if he is though,” Adrien repeats, this time more seriously.

“We will protect you, man,” Nino responds, an unusual seriousness in his own tone. He slides closer to Adrien, putting a protective arm around his shoulders. He knew Adrien couldn’t fully grasp the weight of his statement, but Nino meant every word. He knew if he went to Ladybug, she would help him. Maybe even make him Carapace again to help protect his friend.

“What if I’m the son of a killer?” Adrien speaks his thoughts aloud, his fingers grasping his hair painfully. Nino’s heart dips again seeing his friend in such anguish.

“No matter what happens, it won’t change how we feel about you man. You’re my best friend dude, I know I’m not good at this mushy stuff, but I’ll always be here for you,” he says, finally finding the words that seemed to be evading him all night.

“You’re fine Nino, all of this is just really hard for me,” Adrien grimaces.

“It’s okay man, I'm here, you can talk to me,” Nino reassures the blonde.

“I just find it so hard to open up to other guys,” Adrien breathes out, “I guess I have my father to thank for that. At least getting high helped me actually talk about this a little more.” 

“Hey man, we don’t need to smoke to talk about this stuff. I hope you know you can always come to me about anything, anytime,” the young man responds genuinely.

“I know, thank you,” Adrien quietly says. “Nothing about my mom’s disappearance makes any sense. I-I’m afraid of him Nino. I’m afraid of my father. I don’t know what he’s capable of anymore,” the green-eyed boy confesses.

“Yeah, it’s all really fucked up,” Nino agrees.

“But we have nothing to go to anyone with!” Adrien speaks a bit louder, his frustration coming out in full force, “there’s no evidence, and obviously the police couldn’t do anything, how can we do anything?” 

“Hey, we got the best investigative journalist I know on the case,” Nino smiles, thinking of his incredibly intelligent girlfriend. “If anyone can dig up something, it’s Alya,” he says decisively. 

They stay huddled together for a few quiet moments, listening to Nino’s playlist accented by the sounds of the city.

“I just really miss her,” Adrien suddenly says, his voice catching in his throat.

“I know,” Nino gently remarks, holding tightly onto his friend.

“I’m gonna cry now,” Adrien says with a bit of a pained laugh.

“That’s okay,” Nino replies, squeezing his friend’s shoulder, “I’ll cry with you dude.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure there will be people out there unhappy with Adrien and Nino smoking *gasp* weed. As I've said before, they are aged up in this fic. However, drinking and smoking as a teen isn't the healthiest decision. But, I do think it's realistic for teens to explore these types of things. Let me know your thoughts on this :) I hope people aren't too angry.
> 
> I know it can be really hard for men & masculine people of any age to talk about their emotions. I've seen and experienced this many times throughout my life. I hope people reading this realize people of all genders need the chance to discuss their feelings. It doesn't make you not manly or weak. It makes you strong 💪 ❤️️. And being there to listen to a friend makes you awesome.
> 
> Thank you again for sticking with me despite my slow publishing schedule. I appreciate each and every one of you who enjoy this story!


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